Infinite Stratos: Dragons Roar Of Courage
by Rukotaro-kun
Summary: An infinite stratos rewrite. Orimura Ichika, who lost his humanity more than one way are going to spend his years in the IS academy as an Agumon. Will he learn anything at the academy while making new friends and reunite with some old friends? Now onto the coming of 'Season 2'. Phantom Task and Sarashiki Group later involved.
1. Prolouge: Agumon, The adventure begins

Disclaimer: Infinite Stratos and Digimon do not owned by me.

Plot: Orimura Ichika was sent to the IS academy for a reason beyond reasons.

Ichika was very tense in the past three minutes because other than himself there were girls in his classroom. Added the fact that all of them are all human. In this case, he is not considered human anymore. How, what and why you ask?

(Flashback)

It was dark as he was being kidnapped and blindfolded by some gangs who tried to make his sister Orimura Chifuyu, the greatest IS pilot to forfeit the current Mondo Grosso match. Ichika cursed himself for being able to get captured despite his harsh training by his sister "Damn it, this sucks. And I thought I had enough training to defend myself." As if it get any worse, Ichika smell something that can be the end of his life, gasoline, a flammable material that even a small flame would cause an explosion. And judging by the strong smell of it, very high quantities of gasoline are in the location."Am I going to die here?"he asked himself worrying that he will never see his sister and his friends ever again. Just then he hears gunshot, sword slashing and men screaming for their lives and a woman's voice,

"Ichika!". That voice alone mean that his sister come and save him, but one single bullet changed his life. One bullet hits the gasoline tank near him and cause a huge explosion incinerating his human body to ashes, that was the day Ichika die as a human.

"Uggh...where am I?" Ichika said as he is in an unknown laboratory. He has no idea that he was either dead or alive, or the fact that how did he end up here. There he saw a young man in his late teens or early twenties as Ichika cannot tell his appearance clearly. Next to the young man was a girl who has the appearance as the young man except she's shorter. Ichika notice that they both have ponytails but the young man's hair were dark blue and the girl were light pink. They dress the same outfit but with a few differences, the young man wearing a black collar shirt, with a kimono robe that is blue with fire design on the bottom side and a red tie while the girl wears the same thing except she's in an inverted color (blue=red, black=white) and she wears a ribbon instead of a tie. Ichika can only see their top part because he was positioned in a surgery bed.

"Hey Rukotaro, what are we going to do with this dude again?"the girl asked the young man who is introduced as Rukotaro. Rukotaro did not even bother answer her question as he examine Ichika's burnt remains and performs a surgery beyond human capabilities on him. Despite his condition, he did not feel pain at all. "Am I dead?" he asks. "You're dead alright, as a human. Don't worry you will be given a new, stronger body to live once again." the girl replied.

After the surgery Ichika looked into a mirror and was surprised on how he looked now, an Agumon."Is that me?" he ponders as he is no longer human but a monster. "Don't worry about that." Ichika finds the girl right behind him, next to her was Rukotaro."You're maybe an Agumon but you're still you, although we did kinda remove some of your past memories but you should be fine." she explained."Agumon, oh you mean this huh?" Ichika ask the girl while taking a look on his new body."Wait what do you mean past memories?" Ichika questions her. "Well do you remember anything when you're still a human?" she asks him.

Ichika try his best and..."Well all I know is that I'm Orimura Ichika, brother of Orimura Chifuyu who is an ace IS pilot currently..." she decided to test him again "And what is an IS then?" He reply "An IS is a powerful exoskeleton, a war machine to be summarised that only react to human females." that is when Ichika felt something unusual 'human females, 'oh no, aside from my identity being retained I start to add the 'human' word!'. "Well at least you know your identity and the current society that we live in."the girl said to him."Oh yeah, women dominate society these days" Ichika state the ugly truth."The guy's name was Rukotaro right, what's yours?" he ask for her name, apparently he overheard the conversation before the surgery,"...Ruuko."she replied.

(End flashback, Ichika's POV)

'She said they'll visit me to see me how I progress but she didn't tell me when though' he think back while still in tense condition of being surrounded by human females all in one facility. Chifuyu-nee found me in the crime scene (burnt warehouse) while in this form. She was shocked to see me like this, but when I say her name she accepted me as I am now which is quite a relief because I do not want raise lots of questions from her. Maybe she's just happy that I'm okay but Tabane-nee however...

(Another flashback)

"I-I-Ikkun, is that you?" Tabane was surprised to see me like this. Oh you don't know who Tabane is?

She is a human female dresses like an Alice wannabe who is a mastermind behind the IS or Infinite Stratos, in other words she created the IS. Oh great, this 'human' thing is starting to get into my head already damn it."How is this even possible, not even I could perform such a feat!" is that jealousy I'm sensing there? "Who done this horrible thing to you? Tabane will pay them back for you OK Ik-kun." Tabane, he gave my life a second chance with power and I'm happy about it, but I haven't told anyone not even Chifuyu-nee and Tabane-nee about those two, Rukotaro and Ruuko. It's at least that I could do to them after they give me this blessing by keeping those two a secret.

(End flashback,still his POV)

As I soon as I turn around to see the view in the window I saw a black haired girl in a long ponytail, way longer than Rukotaro's which same goes to Ruuko. She's kinda familiar though, have I seen her before? She looks at me and pretend to look out the window with an angry expression, did I do something wrong?"..rimura-kun, Orimura-kun."huh, is it my turn already? Oh well then, better introduced myself then to my classmates. "I know I know, it's my turn right?" the teacher introduced herself as Yamada Maya nodded at me in response.

"My name is Orimura Ichika ,it's nice to meet you all. Despite my appearance I am quite gentle so please treat me as your equal and I hope we can get along very well, that is all."

And so my years in this school filled with human females begins. Again with the human thing, oh damn I'm starting to lose it.

There first fanfic ever. About those two OC's I might stick them in this , please review and be gentle about it.

In terms of Ichika's size, his Agumon form will be as tall as an average man so expect him to be a big boy and even bigger boy when he digivolves into Greymon and I kinda add the Wolverine concept here just to let you know.


	2. Reunion: The Forgotten Friend

Disclaimers: see the prologue (Digimon & Infinite Stratos are not owned by me)

(Ichika's POV)

After I Introduced myself to my classmates, different reactions were showing something like "Oh my god he's so cute!", "Is this the real deal?","What happened to him?", "Why is he wearing that costume, though it is cute?" and so on. Then I hear a door slide open and behind the door was my human sister, Orimura Chifuyu.

"Orimura, your introduction is terrible!"She yelled at me while hitting me with that clipboard of hers. Don't get me wrong she is a very strong opponent and a hit from her can send any human flying but my new form can turn a brutal hit into a pillow strike including her's.

"Hello there Chifuyu-nee." I greet her with a lack of enthusiasm, which I ended up get another (futile) hit and another (useless) reminder from Chifuyu-nee. "Call me Orimura-sensei."

"Fine then Orimura-sensei."I complied. "So how was the SHR meeting Orimura-sensei?" Maya-sensei asked. "Hm..it went pretty well I suppose. It must have been hard on you to make these students introduce themselves." Chifuyu-nee answered."No, it's fine as a teacher I must do this" Maya-sensei replied.

Here goes her introduction"Alright assholes, I am Orimura Chifuyu. I'll be teaching you losers how to pilot an IS very well and I expect you to do just that. You can oppose my attitude but you will have to follow everything I said understand!" Chifuyu-nee seems in a bad mood today if she's speaking like that, maybe she didn't had her coffee today.

"Kyaa,, it's the real Chifuyu-sama!","I've always been your follower!","I've come from Hokkaido just to see you Chifuyu-sama!".My classmates are are already in fan girl mode with the exception of that ponytail girl and the blonde girl with curls behind me.

"Huh, as if these idiots were sent in my class just to learn or is it something else I wonder?" Chifuyu-nee is obviously annoyed by the fan girls here. 'Very cold Chifuyu-nee..' despite that "Kyaa ,insult us more. But be more gentle next time and then go all the way!" weirdo fan girls. You might be wondering how I ended up here in the IS academy, well it all started a few days after I became an Agumon.

(Flashback)

During Tabane-nee's unexpected visit I was trying to anticipate what is she trying to do with me because after I became like this she is completely curious about my new body. At that time Chifuyu-nee was in Germany to train some soldiers or something as part of the agreement for helping my sister rescuing me. I need to become stronger so I can return the favor, actually I'm also curious about my new form as well and I have a feeling I can be even stronger than this, even stronger than Chifuyu-nee. So I decided to practice with Tabane-nee using her two 2nd generation IS Uchigane and Raphael.

I practice very hard that day as I practice more my 'Pepper Breath' started to increased its power in terms of projectile, speed, accuracy, and attack power. I also develop new techniques like 'Claw Attack', 'Fire Cross Bite', 'Claw Uppercut' and I also able to jump high twice even in midair to make up for the lack of ability to fly like the IS.

Ruuko said that I can undergo a process known as digivolution, she said that when the conditions are correct I will transform into a even stronger digimon to fight against more stronger and more skillful enemies. She also noted that I can even fly in my later digivolutions so that is what I am aiming for. After Tabane-nee witness my abilities she gave me a scholarship to go to the IS academy to learn about different types of IS so that I can exploit my enemies weaknesses and owe Chifuyu-nee a favor for being so weak when I was still human.

(End flashback)

It was a good thing that I read that thick book during my spare time or else I'll be struggling right now. I didn't know that IS can be so complicated and so the period ends without any chaos happening. Ah break time, time for me to take a nap in my table because I didn't sleep very well yesterday but my nap time apparently have to be canceled for today because that ponytail girl in right in front of me.

"Can you go to the rooftop right now?" she asked me. I nodded and started to follow her into the rooftop of the academy. In the rooftop the silence was heavy and I have a feeling that this girl wants something from me.

"So what do you want from me?" I ask her.

"Ichika, do you remember me?" she asking me back, and I decide to be honest "No not really, do we met before?" The girl was shocked and start pulling my head until she stops, She must have think this body of mine is some sort of costume or something. Then it hit me,"Oh you must be Shinonono Houki, the winner of the Kendo National Tournament right? Congratulations then." 'Shinonono, where did I heard that name before...oh yeah, Tabane-nee.' she was very angry and curious at the same time for some reason.

"Ichika, I'm your childhood friend you moron and that's not a costume is it?" I gave her a nod and she was shocked in disbelief. Apparently this is one of my lost past memories, my childhood friend. I wonder what other past memories that I lost?

After another period is over another surprise comes at me while I'm trying to think back, It's the blonde girl with curls this time trying to talk to me "Excuse me, can I have a minute?" She's trying to get my attention. "Huh?" I responded. "'Huh', what kind of reaction was that? You should be honored that I'm talking to you right now!"she was taken aback. Judging by the way she talk she must have a VERY big ego, haughty and very arrogant which is not my type to be tolerate with.

"Sorry I was thinking about something. You're Cecilia Alcott, the British Cadet Representative and the pilot of 'Blue Tears' right?" She answered "I'm surprised that someone like you actually know me, I might teach you a thing or two since I'm awesome. After all I did beat an instructor."

This is the moment where I have to spill her beans badly "Oh really, that makes two of us then."She was taken aback again"What, I did not know about this, But I thought I'm the only one who is able to beat an instructor?"I added"Maybe it's in the women's category which I'm not part of."She was really pissed off here but I was saved by the bell. "I'll come back, don't you ever run away!" She give me her last words before she leaves, like I would run away anyways.

In the next period, there was an announcement about class representative for this class by Chifuyu-nee which she is suppose to teach this period and I was instantly get picked by some random classmates and I cannot back down from the position, that is so unfair and I have a bad feeling about this and I was right.

"I object, how can we let this..this THING become a class representative, am I Cecilia Alcott going to go through this humiliation!" I stand up to her and said "Cecilia, your argument is invalid, words won't solve anything. When it comes to problems like these there is only one way to solve it, battle. You, me, fight in the IS arena tomorrow. Is that OK with you Orimura-sensei?" She gave me a nod which means game on! "I wouldn't have it any other way then!" Cecilia reply which means my first actual IS battle, challenge accepted.

After that drama in class I decided to get some rest for tomorrow's match at my room which is Room 1025. Apparently Shinonono is my roomate and she was in a towel which proves I have a few humanity left which is the feeling of lust. I was forced to stay outside of my room until Shinonono finished changing which in a meanwhile being surrounded by human females in their undergarments. It's not that bad actually until Shinonono open the door and getting rid of the girls surrounding me which is quite a relief. She state about who gets to use the shower first and the bed which I don't really care anyways, I really need to get some sleep here. Maybe this match can unlock my potential and I can't wait to find out, goodnight everybody.

Phew, that was done. OC not in full appearance yet, but it will soon. May not as accurate as the anime story line and it's quite a rush I admit. Next chapter 'Ichika's awakening: Greymon VS Blue Tears!'

I may have a problem with the next chapter here because I'm not good writing out battle scenes, ideas and suggestions are acceptable for inspiration. Please review and be gentle about it.


	3. Awakening: Greymon vs Blue Tears

Disclamer: Infinite Stratos and Digimon do not owned by me.

(10 hours before the match, 04 00 Ichika's room)

Ichika is wide awake from his slumber as he is preparing for his match with Cecilia while Houki is still in deep slumber. He is no idiot when it comes to battles, he knows the strategy on how to defeat his adversaries. At this early morning he try to gain access to [Blue Tears] database with the help of the internet and Tabane and analyze it's weapon units.

"So [Blue Tears] is a long range sniper IS huh. Guess that training with [Raphael] is not a waste of time after all." As he analyze the [Blue Tears] he needs to develops a strategy on defeating her because she WILL be in the air which she use to her advantage and he needs to think fast. He may be good with his [Pepper Breath] and has a fair chance of winning due to high accuracy on hitting the target, but he needs to digivolve in order to get a full chance of winning against Cecilia.

(8 hours before the match, 06 00 Ichika's room, Ichika's POV)

Houki should wake up in the next hour so what am I going to do? I already planned a strategy to go against [Blue Tears] and Cecilia said that she beat an Instructor during that test, maybe I should consider planning a new strategy in case my strategy fails and it's not just gonna be plan B, it could be plan C to Z if I have to get an absolute chance of winning. Then again if I win this match I get the class representative position which I'm not interested in but I try to win this match anyways.

Well time to go for my morning jog, then take a quick shower and a huge serving of meat based breakfast. It's maybe my body at fault here but I have been craving for meat lately and lots of it, I even serve a huge pile of meat in every meal I cook back home after I become like this.

I go for a jog in the break of dawn outside of the IS academy but not too far though, the surrounding is beautiful when the sun is yet rising and it's soothing for me to witness this fine (almost) morning. By the time I finished jogging the sun is already rise and I hope I get to use the shower first because I have a feeling Houki will not share the hot water with me.

As I arrive to my room Houki was standing right in front of me

"Where have you been?" that's the first thing she said to me.

"Um I went for a morning jog, it's a routine for me actually." I replied to her. The silence was there and it's heavy, I have to break this silent atmosphere.

"So who's gonna use the shower first?". Houki is not replying for some reason so the shower is mine first.

" Alright I'll take a shower then." I was going to reach the shower until Houki interrupt me.

"I got to use the shower first, after all ladies first." seriously I swear she use that excuse to take all the hot water to herself and I know it. Thankfully there is still some hot water left after she took her shower for me to enjoy and now for my huge side of meat for breakfast.

(6 hours before the match, 08 00 cafeteria, still Ichika's POV)

I was not satisfy by the menu in this place, all they have is human sized breakfast. Oh well, at least this place have rice with meat and fish which is my favorite beside meat only. As I dig in on my limited feast with Houki I started a conversation with her

"So Shinonono, what was that all about yesterday about you being my childhood friend?" Houki slams the table furiously.

"Don't call me by my surname, call me Houki!"

"Whatever Houki." well that killed the mood, aside from that three girls are coming into our table.

"Um Orimura-kun can we sit here?" One of the girls said to me and I replied to them.

"Sure go ahead."I answered.

"Yes!" well aren't they happy and I see some girls disappointed for not asking me earlier, oh well.

"Whoa Orimura-kun , you eat a lot don't you?" one of the girls said while observing my tray of food.

"Well what do you expect, he is a dinosaur." the other girl reply. The third girl which is sticking out like a sore thumb by wearing a yellow bear like costume added,

"And a cute one that is, Hey Orimura-kun I gonna make a costume based on you."

"I'm finished." Houki was done with her breakfast while mine is halfway done.

"Sure you go ahead." I replied to her.

"Orimura-kun what is your relation with Shinonono?" one of the girls asked me.

"Well according to her I'm her childhood friend."they were surprised

"Childhood friend, you must haven't seen her for a long time if you were forgotten about her?" she asked me back.

"Yeah I guess so." Honestly I don't even remember Houki being my childhood friend at all except the fact that she is a Kendo practitioner. I better finished my meal fast because I heard that Chifuyu-nee is supervising the cafeteria and I'm late for class.

(4 hours before the match, 10 00 class 1-1)

"Alright, as you all know there will be a match between Orimura and Alcott this afternoon so no betting will be done or face me in the disciplinary room for a special lecture."Chifuyu-nee announces all the students before class started. The students are terrified by the announcement and they have a reason for that, obviously coming from Chifuyu-nee anyone should be scared. The lesson went well until the afternoon where the face off will start between me and Alcott in Arena 1.

(Ichika's daydream)

Right after Ichika came to the arena alone, a white flash came upon him, he then saw a noodle like beagle which was the similar beagle that Montel entrusted her body to, the beagle then told Ichika that the beagle foretold him a hero shall rise from the ashes of his destruction which will aid Montel in the greatest test the beagle will give the selected heroes. Ichika then asked why,the beagle then told him that the world was in a dying state just the other planets in the universe,and that the beagle had the ability to save it but insists if those who are willing to save it would surpass his challenges,those who succeed shall have their world restored but those that failed to do so will have their world obliterated to oblivion and cease to exist. The beagle then told told Ichika of his trial which was to find an individual who was deemed heroic within his eyes,with those final words the beagle vanished...(Author's note: I did not write this paragraph, it was my friend who decided to add things to this chapter. The credit goes to Noodles for including Hanako-chama's character in the last minute in Ichika's daydream.)

(2 hours before the match, 12 00 cafeteria, normal POV)

"Ugh, what in the world was that dream about?"he was still in wonder,

"maybe I should not considered it seriously." but Ichika held unto the the beagle's words and continued to fight in the arena later. But before that..

"Houki what are you doing here, I didn't invite you?"Ichika asked as soon as Houki sat next to him.

"And I suppose to have a privilege to sit next to you?" Houki asked back.

"Well it's just that you would rather sit to other girls than sitting next to a monster." Ichika answered. Houki didn't anwser back.'sigh human females...'

(13 50, 10 minutes before the match, arena 1)

Ichika was waiting anxiously towards his match with Cecilia and now he needs to digivolve to his Champion level according to Ruuko in order to defeat a 3rd generation IS. Houki is standing next to him,

"Hey Houki you're going to support me or something?"

Houki said to Ichika while blushing"Of course you idiot, I'm your childhood friend after all."

'hm, is Houki alright she has that reddish look on her face?'

Just then "Orimura-kun, Orimura-kun You can depart to the arena when you're ready." Yamada-sensei announces through a speaker.

"Well time to go."Ichika said while entering the battlefield.

(14 00, The awaited battle, Arena 1)

Ichika as he predicted saw Cecilia in the air with [Blue Tears].

"Hmph, I thought you would run away from this fight." She continued.

" No matter because I will win no matter what, hope you're prepare to apologize. Any last words?"

Ichika replies by [Pepper Breath] her with extreme accuracy, Cecilia was caught off guard and take the hit. [Blue Tears shield energy: 537/600]

"Why you little-!" before Cecilia could finish small fireballs are coming at her. [Blue Tears shield energy: 456/600] wasting no time Cecilia took out her rifle and start shooting at Ichika. He avoids most of the shots and keep spamming her with [Pepper Breath], compare to Cecilia, Ichika gets the most hits than her.

"tch, how did you get so fast? Very well then dance to the waltz of the [Blue Tears]!" her BITs started aiming at Ichika and open fire.

" Damn these BITs are annoying, better take them down first." Ichika fires towards the Bits and destroys all of them within 3 hits each BIT.

(Cecilia's POV)

Damn is this for real, how can he moves so fast and he already destroyed my four BITs but I have a secret weapon. All I have to do is to get him close to me and I have him right where I want him to. I shoot him to a certain direction and distance so that he'll fall for my trap. As he gets closer I move on for the kill. The time is right "Gotcha!"

He cursed "Shit,it's a trap!" it seems he doesn't know my other two BITs under my 'skirt'. I opened fire and a direct hit finally and creating a huge smoke.

"Hah, you should have know your place, you're no match for me no matter how much you struggle!" He replies back, WHAT?

"You maybe right, maybe in this form, but ..."

Wait 'form' what in the world? As the smoke clears I saw there was a dinosaur like monster bigger than the last one. It had blue stripes, a brown helmet of some sort with an antler and two horns.

(Normal POV)

The smoke is cleared and what everyone saw was a dinosaur much larger as Cecilia describe it. 'Greymon...So this is my champion form then.'

" Prepare yourself Cecilia!" Ichika declared to his opponent.

"Um, what's going on Orimura-sensei? Yamada-sensei asked.

"Honestly, I don't know, But it might be considered as a 'first shift' for him." Orimura-sensei answered 'Hm, that idiot he finally managed to save himself for once'

Houki was surprised by Ichika's new form and so does all other girls in the arena including the staffs and other teachers.

Ichika charges towards Cecilia, perform a high jump which takes Cecilia by surprise and tackles her to the ground. [Blue Tears shield energy: 324/600, warning: IS suffer moderate damage].Ichika then charges and performs the [Great Antler] onto the IS and gets a critical hit.[Blue Tears shield energy: 106/600, Warning: right arm and leg parts suffered major damage.] Cecilia still at shock of what just happened but she tried to shoot him with her remaining IS parts and rifle. Ichika sends a mighty dragons roar to startle Cecilia off guard and go for the final move.

"Mega Flame!" Ichika shoots a giant fireball in high speed towards Cecilia and Her IS is covered in flames . [Blue Tears shield energy: 0/600 ,severe damage to all IS parts, unable to fight] Cecilia was blown across the arena unharmed thanks to the IS 'absolute barrier' system.

"I-I-I lost?" Cecilia is still in disbelief. "Winner, Orimura Ichika!"the announcement goes. Ichika then celebrate his first IS battle victory with a victory roar, then he realize something; the daydream that foretold him of a trial for him. It turns out that he is THAT certain individual to find and to save the world, but is it really true, if so when?

Ichika then approach to his what is left to his opponent Cecilia while still in his Greymon form.

"I-I-I'm sorry!" that was a first of him coming from Cecilia who was in tears."I'm sorry that I insult you in some point just please don't eat me I'm begging you!" at this point she was kneeling and begs for forgiveness.

Ichika was putting on his poker face at her after hearing her apologies. "What, I do not eat humans and I was just giving you a lift since your IS is busted."he then picks up Cecilia to her boarding deck and proceed to his own boarding deck. At this rate he degenerate back into Agumon and meets up with Houki, Yamada-sensei and Orimura-sensei.

"Wow, Orimura-kun you've done well I'm impressed." Yamada-sensei compliment Ichika about the battle.

"Nice one idiot, you actually won."Orimura-sensei compliment him as well which rarely happens. Houki didn't say anything after the battle which Ichika didn't bother.

On the other side Cecilia was still in disbelief of her loss and it continued during in the shower in her room" I couldn't believe it, he actually won." Cecilia was still disturbed by Greymon's arrival because in her childhood she had a terrible dream about a huge monster trying to eat her. Her delicious nude, creamy body is considered a perfect meat for any huge monster for a damsel in distress but.."When he approached me, he was trying to help me...No, I don't think we'll be friends after all I've done to him. I want to know more about him, and I'm trying make it up for it for what I have done but what?"

(Evening, Room 1025)

Ichika saw Houki not wearing her usual Kendo outfit which is quite strange to him." Hey Houki, no Kendo practice tonight?" Ichika asked her.

"Not tonight." Houki answered and added "wanna come for dinner?"

Ichika nodded" Yeah I'm kinda hungry."

As the two walk in the cafeteria they were surprised by the settings of the cafeteria." what's going on here?"Ichika asked.

"Well we would celebrate our new class representative by having a grand feast just for you Ichika roar!" his classmates apparently all of them replied with an epic fail imitation of Greymon's roar.

"That's right and I was the one who come up with this idea!" Cecilia boasted 'What happened to the crybaby I just fought a few hours ago.'

Just then the president of the newspaper tries to interview Ichika"So how does it feel to become the new class representative and the first umm... male to beat an IS?"

"Well it felt great although I not sure on how to feel of becoming a class rep. Since this is my first time on leading onto anything." Ichika answered honestly.

"humph, no need to worry for I, Cecilia Alcott, will help you to manage that! You should be honoured that I'll be on your side from now on." She boasted again, Houki facepalmed by this statement and Ichika started to think with a hint of sarcasm 'Alright, where is that crybaby whose name is Cecilia Alcott gone off to?'

"Alright, were going to take some pictures for the new class rep. Orimura Ichika with Cecilia Alcott, ready, smile!" the newspaper club said while ready to take the photo. The result was a picture of the whole class 1-1 in it including Houki which is standing angrily with her arms crossed and close to Ichika.

"What in the hell is this all about?" Cecilia burst out when seeing the picture.

"Now now calm down Cecilia we are classmates with Orimura-kun so we should be included in the picture too you know." The other girls try to make an excuse. The feast went on and when it is late and the girls are feeling sleepy, Ichika decided to finish the leftovers of the feast and went to bed.

(In an unknown location)

"So Rukotaro,do we have the time to visit him or do we put him to the test since he can digivolved into Greymon now?" Ruuko asked her companion. He did not reply whatsoever to her question.

"Oh, so were going to test him then, when?" Ruuko answer her own question. Rukotaro showed a picture of one of Ichika's forgotten childhood friends, Huang Lingyin."So is it when she arrives at the academy or during the representative match?" Rukotaro kept silent," I guess it's the latter, well suite me just fine."She still answered her own question.

Alright guys that was done and it took longer than I thought. I want you readers to give me your ideas on Rin's arc next chapter because I do not know on Rins behavior towards this Ichika and I want some different mix compared to the anime storyline through reviews. I will consider my own ideas and twists if I have to if there are no suggestions from you guys. Until then see you later.


	4. Thoughts: The Maiden's Hearts

**OK, this is just a little bit of POV's and stuff in this chapter then maybe next is Rin's appearance and the second battle. But for now I'm just taking it easy for now I suppose and think about some stuff.**

Disclaimers: IS and Digimon do not owned by me.

**Ichika's POV**

The morning went on as usual as I consume my breakfast at usual pace, although Houki still sit next to me for no reason on top of that the blonde girl Cecilia also sit next to me. I was thinking she would rather sit next to a normal group of people instead of a freak show group.

"You two,are you really going to sit next to me every time I'm on my meals?" at this point they both look at me with those eyes.

"Do you have a problem with that?" Houki is still wearing that angry expression of hers.

"Well there was no empty seat so I was just going to sit here then."Cecilia reply with no hint of fear at all.

"Um, Orimura-kun?"Hm someone's calling me and um- hello what is this?

"Tadda, what do you think, Pretty cute eh?" It's that costume girl Honne, which attracts my attention by wearing an Agumon suit her face is on the mouth just like her last costume, although she looks like she has been eaten by an Agumon by the costume itself.

"Oh, so weren't lying when you said that you're making a costume based on me. That looks good on you, you almost had me there Honne." I had to admit she is very good when it comes to costumes and I almost fall for it, then again she is very cute wearing that costume. Houki and Cecilia started to glare at me for some reason, could it be jealousy...nah they wouldn't fall for me, I mean humans fall in love with other humans right? They would never have a crush on me or is it, I honestly don't know maybe I still have some humanity within me but what?

I also heard from Chifuyu-nee that there will be a special lecture later afternoon today and it's for everyone and what I mean everyone I mean **everyone**, the first, the second, the third years, the teachers and the whole staffs of this academy are all affected by this special lecture and I don't even know what is this all about but all I know is that is the teachers are not actually teaching this lecture but a student, what could possibly this student teach that the teachers can't makes me wonder.

**Houki's POV**

Is this really Ichika that I know? during 9 years ago he wasn't like this at all, what happened to him that turn him into a monster is probably because of some curse. At least it's the same Ichika I know although he's more battle hungry and more aggressive compare the last time I saw him as a human and I have a bad feeling about this new Ichika.

Don't look at me like that you readers, in this era people do not believe in spirits and curses but doesn't mean that we should ignore it. At this time when women dominate society they would worry more about which is the strongest and honestly most women today are a bunch of slackers that rely on that stupid machine that my sister invented and never bother doing anything else and this sickens me as I am a woman. This Cecilia brat is no different, I mean she relies too much on those sensors on her IS so much that she forgot she have eyes for god's sake,

" Hey I heard that b*tch, I have ears you know!"

I'm sorry fellow women but I really can't stand it when we rely too much on these machines well except Chifuyu-san, that woman is out of the league and I am just stating my beliefs here so forgive me if I offend you with my ramblings and to the readers of this fanfic who are reading this.

Oh Sh*t, I just broke the forth wall did I?

**Yes you did Houki, you did break the forth wall.**

Eh, who is this, are you my subconscious?

**You might say that...**

Umm..do you about the special lecture that we all have to attend today afternoon?

**You'll konw soon enough but enough of your POV Houki, let's just go through Cecilia's POV already so we can get this over with.**

Gomen, and now it's Cecilia's POV in just around a hundred words,you're ready Cecilia?

"Of course I am, who do you think I am a dumb blonde to you?"

Honestly yes...

"How dare you, that's stereotypical bullsh*t you f*cking asian!"

Now were just going off topic here, and don't you dare use racism on me you dumb b*tch!

**Hey hey hey, are we going to start a war here or are we going to go to Cecilia's POV so we can proceed with the story already?**

Gomen...

"Sorry.."

Dumb b*tch.

"Asian."

**Oh, and Houki...**

Yes?

**You just broke the forth wall...again.**

Sh*t.

"Fu fu fu~"

Don't you dare laugh Cecilia.

**Cecilia's POV**

Welcome to my POV my dear readers, my name is Cecilia Alcott and I assume that you know of me. You may think right now and said to me that why am I so hostile to Ichika-san during our first encounter, well it has something to do with my family back in England. My mother is very successful in her career even before the IS came and change the world. My mother was working a lot that she doesn't have time for me and my father would just sit in his chair doing nothing, not even trying to help mother with her work. Since my father was the only man I see during my lifetime even before coming here I would assume that every men in the world are worthless just like father.

Both of my parents died during an incident where there was a disaster in a railway where my parents took and I was at loss, I mean I was all alone now except when I'm with Chelsea who is my childhood friend and a personal maid.

When I entered the IS academy with full confidence, there I saw him, Orimura Ichika. He was the only man in the academy but when I saw him all I saw is that dinosaur like creature, He's not a man but a monster. Of course I do not treat him with respect at first because I assume he's just like any other um..man, but during the match it was a scary experience for me. Apparently he change from that yellow menace to a huge horned dinosaur with a lot of fire power and I have a fear of monsters when I was just a child. I lost the match and I was scared that he might eat me because I've been a bad girl. When he decided not to eat me then it hit me, He was the first um..man (He is a male right and used to be a human from what I heard) that can prove himself not just by words but actions as well.

That was my decision to make a move for it, I may be selfish but that is just the way I am. I mean I am not going to give Ichika-san to someone else just because he is a monster, I read fairy tales when I was a child and I know the story of beauty and the beast. Someday I'll become the beauty and he will be the beast just like the story goes.

Hm, there's a special lecture today though later this afternoon, I wonder what is this all the teachers are suppose to attend this lecture, I guess they don't even know about this is all about.

**And there goes another fourth wall broken by Cecilia, let's end this POV straight away to proceed to the special lecture immediately.**

Huh, who was that?

**Scene change, arena 1, 13 00, Ichika's POV.**

Hm, the afternoon came in quickly, as if there is this author magic at work here. No matter, all I see in the arena are all the people in the academy in their perspective groups and one student step in front with a presentation prepared in front of her. She is a first year from the uniform she's wearing and has a light blue long hair which is quite a beauty.

"Um, g-g-good afternoon everyone, my name is Sarashiki Kanzashi and I'm going to present you a special presentation with a permission of the student council about Orimura Ichika."

Me, what is this all about? All the people in the arena including Chifuyu-nee, Houki, Yamada-sensei are staring at me and it is a bit unpleasant at the moment.

"Hey what about me?"

Oops, sorry about that Cecilia.

"Hmph!"

"Um can I have all your attention please?"As Sarashiki announces that, all eyes are on her now.

"As you can see here this is what Ichika is now, 'Agumon'. It is a very well balanced fighter, although not very powerful, he was able to take down a 2nd generation ISes Like [Uchigane] an [Rafael Revive] depending on the pilot's skill with it's [Pepper Breath]." Sarashiki explained while showing a demo on the huge screen in the arena.

"As seen from yesterday's match Ichika was undergo a process known as digivolution which in this case a 'First Shift' in IS terms in order to defeat Cecilia. In this form,he is known as 'Greymon' and it is very vicious when it comes to fighting. But outside of battle he is very intelligent and can be very loyal to his friends. The helmet on it's head are very hard and the horns can be used as a weapon and it is very powerful as Greymon is capable of taking down a 3rd genaration Ises like Cecilia's [Blue Tears]" Sarashiki shown the video from yesterday's match after explaining my champion form.

"And that concludes the presentation for today, I know this presentation is very short but at least you know what Ichika is right?" After that presentation by Sarashiki, all the people from the IS academy know me better in terms of what I am of course.

Chifuyu: All right, time to end this.

Ichika: Hm, is it over already?

Houki: I think so...

Maya: Oh, It's not that long is it?

Ichika: What are you talking about Yamada-sensei?

Maya: W-w-wait, it's not about that OK, It's just that this chapter is not that long is it?

Chifuyu: Yamada, look at the author's note at the top.

Maya: *le reading the author's note at the top* Ah sorry author-san, I didn't know about that note above.

**It's okay, don't worry about it.**

Maya: Really? Arigatou author-san.

Cecilia:What, no time for me?

Houki: What are you, an attention seeker?

Cecilia:Humph!

Rin:Alright, my debut is on the next chapter baby! Next chapter: "2 dragons vs 2 berserkers." ICHIKA~!

Ichika; Eh, who are you?

Rin:*Petrified*

All: Please review!

...

...

Rukotaro:...

Ruuko: All right reviews!

**And all of them broke down yet another forth wall oh well. Yeah kinda like self insert so what do you think?**

**Anyways done for now, see ya. **


	5. New Evolution Line: GeoGreymon

DISCLAIMERS: INFINITE STRATOS DO NOT OWNED BY ME

Authors note: I received some idea from Toby860 suggesting about the GeoGreymon evolution line and I would incorporate that to this fanfic. I would like to say thanks for the suggestion and it gives me inspiration to type out this chapter. Anyways enjoy...

* * *

Ichika's dream

It was black, the surrounding is black. Only Ichika was present in the area. But a voice ring out to him,

"...Orimura...Ichika..."

"Hm...?"

"...Orimura...Ichika..."

"...W-who's there?"

"...Savior of mankind..."

"What are you talking about, who are you?!"

"...Do you have the courage?"

"..."

"...The Infinite Stratos..."

" Where are you?"

"...The Infinite Stratos is a machine..."

"What are you talking about...?"

"...A machine has no mind of it's own..."

"..."

"...You must lead those machines..."

The voice faded, leaving Ichika alone.

" What do you mean? Answer me..."

No response, it was time for Ichika to wake up.

* * *

4 AM, Ichika and Houki's room, Normal POV

At this time, everyone would still in their beds, but not one certain student. Ichika had made a habit of waking up at four in the morning to do a jog in the IS academy ever since his transformation. As Ichika went for a jog, he stops for a while and admires the late-blooming sakura petals fall from their trees.

It was almost the end of the month of April, where the Sakura petals should fall from their trees. It has been two weeks since his battle with Cecilia and almost been a week since the special presentation. It was just another quiet day at his stay at the IS academy.

"Hm, it's just like any other day...Maybe I should reflect for a while."

Ichika then concentrate and think about the current situation he was into.

" A lot has happened lately, I am now an Agumon, I somehow got transferred to this prestigious IS academy by Tabane-nee for no real apparent reason and I've just learned my champion form, Greymon. I wonder what other forms I have on my sleeve if I have any."

By the time Ichika was done with his daily routine, His roommate was awake, he can tell that by the sound of the shower running. Ichika sighed as he has nothing else to do for the moment but lay on his oversized bed, all he come up to wait for Houki is reflect on his relationship with Houki.

"Houki...She said she was my childhood friend, but I don't really remember much about her at all...maybe that's part of my memory that lost during my transformation. Ugh, this isn't helping, I can't even remember when we met the first time, or where for that matter."

As Ichika thought about it, Houki was done taking a shower and was wrapped in a towel to cover her body.

"Eeek, Ichika when did you get here?!" Houki was surprised and give a yelp towards Ichika, which surprised him, and fell from his bed.

Thud-there goes the impact.

"Did I surprised you Houki?" Ichika asked.

"I-Ichika, turn around!" Ichika turned around as she tell him that.

"Hey Houki, I've been wondering just recently but...when and where did we met the first time?"

Houki was shocked to hear that.

"I...lost my memory after I got this body.."

'This body?'

"Now is not the time Ichika, we better get to class."

"...OK."

* * *

Ichika's POV

"Well then, let's start practicing some basic IS maneuvers. Orimura you better pay attention to this, you're maybe far from human but you still need to act like one. Alcott, trying flying with

your IS."

Chifuyu-nee is just as strict as any other day as usual. But still, I gotta pay attention, as I will be flying like the IS one day.

Cecilia equip her IS 'Blue Tears' as she floats. The BITs that were destroyed by me during our battle are already completely repaired.

"Okay, fly."

After Chifuyu-nee said that, Cecilia immediately got into action. She quickly rose up and stopped high above the ground.

" Alcott, try doing a sudden dive and come to a complete halt. The target is 10cm above the ground."

"R-Roger."

After saying that, Cecilia immediately drops towards the floor. I'm somewhat impressed as I watch her become bigger.

For those who don't get it, Cecilia was in the sky while Ichika remained on the ground for obvious reason.

"You're good, aren't you?"

Just like that, she seemed to have completely stopped perfectly.

"Cecilia, deploy your weapons."

"Yes!"

She raised her hand to where her shoulder was, and then stretched her arm to the side. She gave off a sudden burst of light. With just that, she was already holding onto the 'Starlight MkIII'.

"As expected of a representative candidate—however, you've got to change your pose. Who're you aiming at when you point your gun to the side? Try and point it at the front."

"Bu-But, but I need to maintain this for my image—"

"CHANGE IT! YOU HEAR ME?"

"—...yes."

Cecilia looked like she wanted to argue back, but she immediately shut up after Chifuyu-nee glared at her. Seems like we just trained one good soldier!

"Cecilia, deploy your close-range weapon."

"Wha? Ah, yes, yes!"

Cecilia seemed to be grumbling about something (that's definitely it), so she got shocked when she was called, and answered slowly.

The gun in her hand became light particles—this seems to be called 'keeping'—and then, she 'deployed' a new close-ranged weapon.

However, the glow in her hand couldn't shape itself as it floated around in the air.

"Huh..."

"Isn't it ready yet?"

"It, it'll be ready soon—ahh, damn it! 'Interceptor'!"

She half-reluctantly shouted out her weapon's name. After her focus gathered, the glow shaped into the weapon. I don't see that weapon during our battle, maybe this is the reason.

However, the preface of the textbook did mention this before. It mentioned that this is a 'beginner's method'. For a representative candidate like Cecilia to deploy the weapon through this method, it's really humiliating.

"...How long did you take? Do you want the enemy to wait for you in a real battle?"

"In, in a real battle, I wouldn't allow the enemy to enter my range! So, so there would be no problems!"

"Oh? But against Orimura, you seemed to have easily let him get close to you."

"Th-That, that's because..."

Cecilia mumbled; Not knowing what to do, she was obviously unable to speak clearly. Just as I was looking at this indifferently, she glared at me.

At that moment, Cecilia looks at me and said,

"It's all your fault!" My fault, How is it my fault exactly?

"Be-Because you came rushing at me..."

More like I Mega Flame'd you to death...not really.

"You, you better take responsibility!"

What do you want me to take responsibility for? For curiosity sake, I pepper breath'ed her just to find out the answer.

"Eeek!" Hm, that's rather impressive, she dodged it and the other girls who got in the way, maybe it's intuition or something, I don't know.

"Ichika-san, what was that for?!"

"Just wondering what you meant by 'taking responsibility'."

"You better take responsibility for that too!" She baffles me for some reason, what is she meant by 'taking responsibility' anyways?

"Orimura, what do you think you're doing shooting fireballs at her for, if she didn't equipped her IS, she'll be a shish kebab."

"...Sorry."

"Anyways, it's your turn." Wait what?

"What do you want me to do?"

"I would like you to deplo- I mean digivolve." Chifuyu-nee seems to struggle for some reason.

'God, that term is still new to me. Where in the hell Sarashiki got that information in the first place.'

"...OK? Everyone, give me some room." My classmate move away from me and I began to concentrate. They already aware of what am I doing.

(Agumon, Digivolve!)

I was engulfed in a bright light, it was a wonderful feeling. I can feel my body change within me, and in an instant I change from Agumon to Greymon.

(Greymon!) Cool, I can get used to this.

"Not bad Orimura, but you can do that in a shorter time and a more efficient way." Was that an insult or criticism, then again I wouldn't know.

Every time I digivolve to the next level, I would consume lots of energy. But as I digivolve more, I would use less energy every time, so it's best to start practicing digivolving in order to get maximum efficiency and enable me to handle further digivolution. All I have to do is to train hard, that's it.

I looked down and some of my classmates somehow still not used to this form, especially Cecilia and Houki.

As I look into the view of the arena, which was where we held our lesson for today, I never realize that you can see some of the facilities from this arena but never mind about that.

"Alright Orimura, return to your 'original' form, you're gaining unwanted attention." Chifuyu-nee ordered me which I comply to. I revert back to Agumon and the lesson ended for today.

* * *

Afterclass

I have nothing to do after class, but just as I mind my own business Kanzashi approached me.

"Um...Orimura-kun, do you have time?"

"Well, I have time."

"Can you do me a favor?"

"Um..What?"

"Come to the Arena 3, don't worry I've give permission to do so."

"Well...OK."

As I said that, Kanzashi was smiling with excitement, I wonder what's up?

After I arrived at the specific location which is the Arena 3, Kanzashi was already waiting for me, with a punching bag?

"Kanzashi, what's going on?"

"Orimura-kun, I would like you to digivolve into something else."

"What do you mean?"

"Why don't you try punching that punching bag first."

"OK...?" What does the punching bag have to do with anything, I suppose it's a good routine for a change.

I punched at the punching bag several times, and I can feel my strength increased and something struck in my mind, something familiar yet it's not.

(Agumon, digivolve!)

Unlike last time, I have a different feeling, a different transformation, a different form, and a new look.

(GeoGreymon!) My another form has emerged. A slim-like, more muscular version of Greymon with spikes within my body, my helmet seems to look different as well.

"Hm...?" I was actually surprised when I got this new look.

"Wah, so impressive."

"Kanzashi, You know about this?"

"Well, I was actually come up with a theory that you can digivolve into other digivolution lines, and I was right. You are now in the GeoGreymon line."

"How?"

"Well, I can say that when certain conditions are met, you can digivolve to a certain form, either what you desired or not. Actually there are more digivolution lines you can explore, it's just that you need to find the correct conditions and exploit it."

"I wanna ask you something though, I am now GeoGreymon, how is Greymon and this form related?"

"Well, Greymon is your natural digivolution line so it's very easy to you to get that form, GeoGreymon is a subspecies actually. GeoGreymon is based on strength, as you see when you increase your strength by punching that punching bag, you've unlocked the GeoGreymon digivolution line."

"So what's the difference between them?"

"From what I thought and just now, GeoGreymon is offense-minded and tend to be more aggressive as oppose to Greymon, which is defense-minded and more towards protecting when in battle."

"So can I digivolve between forms?"

"I don't know but that's up to you actually, if you want to we'll practice in the arena everyday to hone your digivolution skill."

"That sounds great! Right now I'm tired, two digivolutions in a day, I need to focus on my digivolution more than ever."

I reverted back to Agumon, and my stomach is growling.

"So...you're gonna treat me Kanzashi?"

"I suppose so..."

"One question, how do you know this Digimon stuff?"

"I'm a fan, why do you even bother asking me about that?" Oh obviously...

"Do you have free time Kanzashi?"

"Well, I usually watched Digimon DVDs for studying about you, wanna watch with me sometime?"

"Oh would I?" The conversation just got interesting as we're on the way to the cafeteria.

* * *

Normal POV

Unknown to both Ichika and Kanzashi, Houki and Cecilia watched the two as they trained separately at different positions and they have the stare that indicates a hint of jealousy.

"Oh, so this is the place..."

At night, in front of the IS Academy Entrance, stood a girl with a Boston bag that didn't match her petite size at all.

Her hair that was flowing in the still warm April night was tied with two ponytails on both sides at the top of her head. Her hair that looked like it was going to touch her shoulder was a pretty black color that matched the yellow hairband it was with.

"Lemme see, where's the reception counter?"

She pulled out a slip of paper from her shirt's pocket. That crumpled piece of paper really was proof of the girl's straightforward character and her lively nature.

"The 1st level General Service Counter in the Main Building...so I want to know, WHERE IS IT?"

No matter how much she grumbled, she won't get an answer from the paper. The girl stuffed the paper along with her frustration into her shirt pocket. Even though the crumpling sound could be heard, she didn't mind at all.

"I'll just have to find it, right? So be it!"

As she muttered this, her feet continued to move. 'Instead of thinking, why not take action?'— that is the sort of girl she is. To put it nicely, she followed the 'practical doctrine'; to put it bluntly, she 'doesn't thoroughly think things'.

—Really...I was told that no one would come to pick me up, but isn't this too ruthless of them? Those government people, really...aren't they worried about dumping a 15-year-old girl in a foreign country?

At first, the girl looks like a Japanese, but taking a closer look, she doesn't really look like one. Those sharp and beautiful eyes of hers belong to a Chinese.

Even so, to this girl, Japan is not only her 2nd homeland, it's also a place that she's very familiar with and has fond memories of. As History puts it aptly 'History is a human's story'.

(Is anyone around? A student or a teacher? Anyone who can lead me?)

As she continued to walk in this unfamiliar school, she was still looking around for people. However, it was already past 8pm, and the lights in the campus were already out. At this hour, the students were already in their dorms.

(Ah—that's enough! So troublesome! I might as well fly through the sky and look...)

Despite her 'this is a good idea' feeling, upon remembering the school rule book, which was as thick as 3 'city telephone directories', she immediately dismissed it.

"It would be bad if you activate your IS at school before being formally transferred! In the worst case, it would become a diplomatic issue. Please spare us that agony!" Once she remembered the high-ranking officials pleas and useless expressions, the girl started to feel better.

(Haha, that's right, I'm an important person as well! Better have some self-discipline.)

To be honest, seeing adults many times her age kneeling down and begging her stirs a good feeling.

For her, who has always hated 'adults who flaunt on their seniority', today's society could be described as `comfortable´.

"Men's muscle power is just a kid's act, a lady's IS is the real justice'. She was happy about this as well, because she had always been a girl who hated 'kids who who are full of themselves just because they're males'.

'—However, that guy's different.'

She remembered a certain boy. To her, he was the biggest reason for her return to Japan.

'—I wonder if he's doing alright now?'

'Hm, maybe he's still rather energetic. She never saw him being gloomy. He's that kind of a person.'

Suddenly she saw Ichika who was walking, along with Cecilia and Houki discussing what Ichika did with Kanzashi and how did Ichika got the new form in the hallway on the way to his and Houki's room.

"Sigh, can you two give me a break! If you want some explanation ask me later or ask her."

The unexpected shout shocked the girl as she stopped.

It's a guy's voice—similar to one she's familiar with. No, most likely it is that person's voice. But...

She thought it's not him.

"Fine we'll just go ask her then!" Both girls that were with Ichika left. The girl was left in confusion but decided to focus on her original tasks, which was finding a way to register to this academy.

"Who is that, a mascot? That voice, it can't be-?!"

After that, she quickly found the General Service Counter. The main building was actually behind the arena, and since it was lit over there, she immediately found the place.

"Mm, then, the procedures are complete. Welcome to IS Academy Huang Lingyin-san."

The receptionist's friendly words seemed distant to her, as none of it was engraved into her brain. The girl—Lingyin didn't look happy at all. She pouted and asked,

"What is that yellow dinosaur in the hallway?"

"Oh you mean that Agumon, he's the class representative of class 1-1, he just got the position recently during the last representative match. Huang-san's in class 2, so you're in neighboring classes. As expected of Orimura-sensei's younger brother!"

'Orimura, younger brother, then that means-!'

It's women's nature to gossip. Lingyin coldly stares at the receptionist, who noticed this as the girl continued to ask,

"Is the class representative of class 2 decided?"

"Yes!"

"What's her name?"

"What? Erm...why are you asking this?"

Perhaps because she noticed that Lingyin's attitude was a bit weird, the receptionist looked troubled as she asked.

"I would like to ask her if she could relinquish the position of class representative to me—"

Veins could be seen popping out of her smiling face.

* * *

Ichika's POV, next day

"Good morning, Orimura-kun. Have you heard about the rumor of the transfer student?"

In the morning, just as I was about to sit down, my classmates started talking to me. It's been several weeks since I entered school, and I can talk with the girls normally, so this should be considered a huge improvement, right? Besides, it would be lonely if I were left alone in class.

"A transfer student? At this time of year?"

It's just April. Why isn't it an enrollment but a transfer? Besides, I heard that the conditions required to enter this IS Academy are rather strict. An exam's definitely required, and without a country's recommendation, it's impossible to enroll here. I'm here for a special reason mind you. Which means—

"That's right. I heard that it's a transfer student from China!"

"Woah, is that so?"

Since we're talking about a transfer student.

"Oh my, so is she wary of my existence and decided to transfer in?"

Class 1-1's representative from England, Cecilia Alcott; like usual, the pose of putting her hand on her hip really fits her this morning. Don't tell me that all English folks would do this pose?

"She can't possibly transfer into this class, right? There's nothing to get worked up over."

That's strange. Houki was definitely walking to her seat (at the front row near the window), and somehow she appeared beside me who knows when. Since Houki's a girl, she should be rather sensitive about this sort of rumors, right?

"What sort of girl is she?"

Since she's a representative, she should be rather strong, right? And she's also like Cecilia. What, is she an arrogant person? Really, I'm sick of it. Oh well, at least she's going into another class, so doesn't concern me.

"Uu...are you concerned about that?"

"Hm? Yeah, a little."

"Humph..."

After I answered honestly, for some reason, Houki's mood worsened as she shows an unhappy look. Nowadays, it seems like her mood will swing from good to bad; such a troublesome person. Is her mind unstable? Or maybe that's the rebellious mood that commonly appears among youths, right?

"You don't have the time to think about other girls? The class representative tournament is coming up next month."

"That's right! Just like that. Ichika-san, in order to get ready for the class representative tournament, we'll be having more practical lessons. As for the opponent, allow me, Cecilia Alcott to take that place. Besides, I'm the only opponent that you would find desirable in this class." Says the one who cringed when I'm become Greymon.

She forcefully emphasized on the 'only'...but that's right. If it were the other classmates, requesting a training suit, getting authorization and optimizing it would take a whole day, so if I want a quick mock battle, asking Cecilia would be the fastest way.

On a side note, the class representative tournament is just what the name implies, it's a battle between the class representatives, and a chance to give everyone a realistic goal before they really start learning how to pilot an IS, in case for me, to see my progress so far.

Besides, this also seems to allow the classes to act as units and allow each other to work together.

In order to motivate everyone, the class that gets the first prize will earn half a year's worth of free dessert coupons. I see, no wonder the girls are so excited. Mm~ dessert, sounds yummy.

"Oh well, I'll do my best."

"Ichika-san, you have to win!"

"That's right! As a 'guy', you must not lose!"

"Greymon for the win!"

"If Orimura-kun wins, the entire class will be happy!"

Cecilia, Houki and all my classmates, they are all saying nice things. But even if you say that, though not too serious, the obstacles I've faced in my basic training by far won't allow me to confidently answer everyone's expectations completely.

One, two, very soon, everyone started to gather, and I'm surrounded by girls. Since this is something that happens normally, I've gotten used to it.

However, the one thing I really can't get is that girls really like to gossip.

"Do your best, Orimura-kun!"

"This is for the free coupons!"

"At this point, only the representatives from class 1 and class 4 have a personal IS, so it should be easy to win this!"

"And the fact that Greymon is on our side, we'll have a chance. Long live Greymon!"

'YEAH!"

As I didn't want to ruin my classmates' exciting mood, I sarcastically replied with a 'yeah'.

"—Your information is outdated."

Hm? A voice came from the entrance of the door. Why do I find that voice familiar...

"The class representative of class 2 also has a personal IS, you know! You can't win that easily."

The person who folded her arms in front of her chest as she puts a leg on her other kneecap and leans on the wall is—

"That's right. I'm the representative candidate from China, Huang Lingyin. Today, I came here to declare war."

She gives a little smile as her trademark twin ponytails sway about left and right.

"Oh, OK I'll be waiting then."

"Wha...? Why are you saying something like that? Don't you even remember me? Now stop pretending you don't remember or know me and take of that costume and show your face."

Once she said that, my classmates seems to whisper about something.

"She did just transferred recently right?"

"So she doesn't know about 'that' right?"

"Yeah it must be it."

"What are you girls whispering about?" Lingyin seems curious, I decided to answer her question.

"You might not know about this but this is not a costume and you do look familiar, have we met before?"

She just stand there as if she has been petrified. But just a few seconds later...a thud- no rather a big bang just landed on her head.

"Hey!"

"What was that for—"

*PA!* Asking that, Rin(I decided to call her that for some reason) got hit viciously by the attendance book—the instructor from hell has arrived.

"It's time for SHR. Head back to class."

"Chi-Chifuyu-san..."

"Call me Orimura-sensei! Hurry up and go back, don't block the door here. You're a bother"

"So-Sorry..."

Rin trembles as she retreats from the door; that attitude clearly shows that she's afraid of Chifuyu-nee.

"I'll come again later. Don't run away, Ichika."

How does she know my name and why must I run away?

"Hurry up and get back."

"Ye-Yes!"

She dashes towards class 2. That was a weird moment for me.

"...Ichika, who was that? Someone you know? You two seem rather familiar with each other."

"I-Ichika-san? What sort of relationship do you have with that girl—"

Everyone else start to gather their fire as they aim and fire questions at me. Sigh, I don't even know that girl...

*PA!* *PA!* *PA!* *PA!*

"HURRY UP AND GET ON YOUR SEATS, YOU BUNCH OF IDIOTS!"

Chifuyu-nee's attendance book puffs out fire...is it my fault?—yes it is. At least they don't get burned.

"Are you thinking something related to fire?" Chifuyu-nee just read my mind.

"Maybe..."

And then, a whole day of IS training begins.

"It's all your fault!"

"It's all thanks to you!"

When lunch started, the first thing Houki and Cecilia started to do was to scold me.

"What did I do now...?" These girls, they give me headaches sometimes.

Just this morning alone, they got warned by Yamada-sensei 5 times and slammed by Chifuyu-nee 3 times. Don't they want to study? If they don't, they shouldn't blamed me in the first place.

Blanking off in front of Chifuyu-nee is like spreading barbecue sauce on their bodies in front of a ferocious tiger, as if trying to emphasize 'come, come eat me'. Hm, I wonder what they tastes like?

I went to the cafeteria and bought a Japanese set at the lunch voucher vending machine. It continues to reasonably provide different types of food, which I am truly grateful for. Just then Rin came to my table while holding a bowl of ramen.

"Hey..." I greeted her.

"Hey." She replied weakly.

"What happened to you Ichika?" She sit right next to me while continuing our conversation.

"Well...an incident turned me into this." I'm not gonna tell the truth to her for good reasons.

"I see...Ichika, do you remember me?"

"Well, I kinda lost some of my human memories so are you one of them?"

'human memories, one of them?'

"Well, I'm your childhood friend remember?" 'Amnesia I suppose.'

"Not really, I thought Houki was my childhood friend"

'He doesn't remember at all, hm...maybe I'll use this to my advantage' Rin has that big grin on her face.

"Hey, you're the class representative of class 1-1 right?"

"Yeah."

"So you're going to face me in the class representative tournament."

"What are you planning?"

"Well...I gonna make a bet with you, if you win I'll tell you what you lost between us, if I win you'll explain what happened to you." Seems risky, but I'll do it, for the sake of remembering my lost memories.

"Deal."

"Well then, if that's the case see you at the tournament."

After finishing our meal Rin seems to left in a hurry for some reason, just after she left Cecilia and Houki came to my table,

"Ichika, it's about time you give us an explanation."

"That's right, Ichika-san! Are you...going out with this person?"

"...No not really, Why?"

"You two looked close for some reason."

"What is your relation with her?"

"She's my childhood friend according to her."

"C-Childhood friend?"

"That's what she told me."

"Tell me something Ichika, how come you don't remember anything from your past?" Houki asked me that question.

"..." I honestly have no idea.

"Well, she's the class representative of the neighboring class so don't lose to her." Cecilia advised me regarding about the class representative league match which will happen around next month.

But there are things that still bother me, Rin. I might ask her during the match I suppose.

* * *

Later at night, somewhere nearby the Gotanda Eatery

On the streets nearby the Gotanda Eatery, appeared a silver-white wolf with blue stripes. The fur of the wolf shines in silver by the reflection of the moon in the night sky and it is tough as metal. But it is no ordinary wolf, it was bigger and more powerful than the average wolf. It is no wolf nor any other beast known to mankind, it is a digimon known as Garurumon. And on Garurumon's back was a girl who was unconscious but not injured or killed by the digimon, in fact she was saved by it. The girl was Gotanda Ran and she was saved from a group of molesters on the street.

"It's a good thing I followed my instinct, if not Ran would be missing. And just in time too, and I was able to transformed into this big bad wolf and put the misery out of them. I do not know how, but at least Ran's safe."

"Onii?" Ran was wide awake.

"Don't worry Ran, next time I'll buy the ingredients."

"..."

Meanwhile on the crime scene, there are three men that were badly burnt from a mysterious blue flame. They were all dead, and the strange thing is despite the obvious burn marks which unusually have a blue tint, the corpse were cold, icy cold. It was those men who were trying to molest Ran but was burnt by Garurumon's howling blaster.

By the next day, police arrived at the scene. They were puzzled and terrified on how the scene looked like. They found that from the few witnesses that heard the crime claimed that they heard a wolf's howl and there were blue flames surrounding the victims and one girl was on the creatures back and the creature took off in an instant.

The police cannot accept the claims of the witnesses and dismiss it as an IS incident. After all, the victims were men and they obviously thought of an IS pilot disintegrate the men into flames for self defense. But the strange thing was even to officials beyond the police was that there were no IS weapon on record was able to leave a ice cold burnt remains of the victim and left without any evidence. Even the government was intrigued by this case, and this leads to the search for that IS weapon which lead those men to their icy flaming grave.

The mystery deepens for them...

* * *

It took a long time to think about this, and took longer time to reach the internet. After seeing Tobe860's suggestion, why should Ichika have only one digivolution line while he has a lot. Next chapter I might introduce the transfer digivolve which is the digivolve of one level of a different form of the same level. E.g. Greymon to Geogreymon and vise versa. The class representative league match and the arrival of the surprise challenger during the match between Rin and Ichika.

I wonder though, should Ichika dark digivolve into Skullgreymon during the representative match? I want your opinion for this.

Until then, keep sending in suggestions and ideas through reviews.


	6. Berserkers: The digimon and the IS

Disclaimers: Digimon and Infinite Stratos do not belong to me.

* * *

Ichika's POV

It is the month of May and it's been several weeks since I met with Rin, she can be energetic at times but whenever I talked to her regarding about her past, she seems gloomy, probably something happened to her. And I suspect she's hiding something from me.

"Ichika, the inter-class battle will be next week. The arena will undergo a settings adjustment, so today will be the last day for a practical battle."

It was after school, while seeing the sky gradually turning orange, I started to head towards the 3rd arena for my special training.

But unlike last time when the members are just me and Kanzashi, Cecilia and Houki somehow joined along for my special training. On the side note, thanks to the tense situation in my class simmering, the number of times I got surrounded by questions and stares have drastically decreased.

Even so, the fact that the raging topic is about me being in this school hasn't changed one bit. The stands on that day should be packed!

Let's cut at this part first. The 2nd years who sold the seats in the stands as 'reserved seats' were punished by Chifuyu-nee a few days ago. It seems the mastermind was confined in her dorm for 3 days. What in the world did they do?

(Agumon digivolve!)

Right now I'm concentrating on GeoGreymon this time.

(GeoGreymon!)

"So, how's your digivolution skill Ichika?"

"It's pretty good, I consume around 40% less energy than before. Although I still can't digivolve between levels yet."

"Well, that's good enough for me."

"By the way...what are these two doing here?"

"Hm? I don't know, they were here when I arrived here."

"It's just that if you need help with your training, Ichika-san."

"Really, how so?"

"By improving your accuracy, since you have a mid-range weapon." Weapon? I think she referred to my fireballs.

"What about close range combat Ichika, you can't just rely on your mid range abiltites!" Houki seems to be more forceful, but she had a point there, I wonder if I can improve on my fighting skills even further?

"If we're talking about credit, what about Shinonono-san's kendo training? It's useless to train without the IS."

"Wha-what are you saying? Haven't you heard the saying 'the essence of kendo is the 'insight'? The 'insight' referes to everything that is in front of the eyes-"

Why do they even bother touching on that subject?

"Ichika-san, we'll start improving your 'Mega Flame'!"

"Hey, you-listen to me, Ichika!"

Honestly, why are you two venting your anger on me?

"Sigh." Kanzashi seems a little stressed out.

After sensing that something's wrong, I touched the sensor of the A control zone door of the 3rd arena. Through fingerprint and pulse identification, I got clearance, and the door opened with a 'whoosh'. No matter how many times I hear it, the release of compressed air still feels loud to me.

"I've been waiting for a long time, Ichika."

"Really, so do I Rin..." Honestly it's been a week since I saw her.

To think that the one waiting for me here is actually Rin. She folds her arms, looking rather cocky and fearless as she smiles. I can feel Houki and Cecilia frowning behind me. Don't you look at me like that!

"Why are you here—"

"Unauthorized personnel are not allowed to enter this place!"

Houki got interrupted, it must be not her day.

With an 'ah?', Rin gives a taunting smile as she says with self-righteousness.

"I'm authorized, I'm related to Ichika! So there's no problem." I suppose that scored a point for Rin,sort of.

"Hm, that's a new look for you." Is she complimenting me regarding about my form?

"Uh...thanks?"

"Oh, I'm not suppose to tell you this but...I'm your first childhood friend!" Houki seems to be angry after hearing this from her.

"Lies, you're not his first childhood friend, I am!" Houki seems to countered back.

"Oh really, no matter because you need to step aside, it's my turn to take the stage, I'm the main character now, all supporting characters can just move aside!"

"Su-Supporting character—?"

"Okay okay. We won't be able to move on like this, so I'll explain later...Ichika are you prepared?"

"I'm ready as I am."

"You're hiding something aren't you?" Houki glared at Rin, which she was unaffected.

"What about you, you seems to be hiding something too." Houki was actually shocked, Rin's probably hit something.

"Hm, you two seem to be forgotten that he should deserve to be with me, Cecilia Alcott." Now this is getting nowhere.

"Who asked you?!"

"AHH, DAMN IT! ICHIKA IS MINE AND MINE ONLY!" Rin seems to be out of patients.

"Ichika should be with me, Idiot!" Houki up the ante by using insults.

"Oh really, you over sized bust!?"

"Shorty!" Cecilia seems to join Houki.

"Mega Melons!" Ooh, that's a good one.

"Ironing board!" Houki's final move, Rin's gonna lose it.

Clang—!

The sudden explosion and impact caused the entire room to shake. Looking closely, Rin's entire right arm morphed into the IS part.

It was like punching the wall fully without touching the wall at all—it's that kind of an attack.

"You, said...you actually said something you shouldn't have said!"

Purple sparks flow through the IS defensive jacket.

—This is bad, she's really angry now.

"I'm sorry Ichika, but I'm not in the mood to talk to you right now."

*BAM*...the sound of the door closing sounded really terrifying. The momentum Rin let out just now was that sharp.

I glanced at the door. There's a 30cm diameter hole. No matter how I look at it, she has enough power to break through a special metal wall.

"...A power-type! And she's a close-ranged type!"

Cecilia seriously inspects the damage done. Thanks a lot you two, I'm not really sure if this affects Rin's fighting style when she's angry.

"Ichika..." Kanzashi speaks up who was ignored during the whole conversation.

"...You should stick with Greymon just to be safe."

* * *

On the day of the battle, the match between me and Rin is held at the 2nd arena, and that will be the first match.

As it's the rumored battle between freshmen, there's not an empty seat in the stands. Even the sidewalks are completely filled with students. As for the people who can't enter the place, they can only view the match through the broadcast screens.

(...But now's not the time to be concerned about that, right?)

In front of me is Rin, who's silently waiting for the match to begin, and her IS 'Shenlong'. Like with the Blue Tears, the floating parts should be the unique characteristic of the 'Shenlong'. The cannons on both shoulders look like they will attack on their own...it'll hurt if I get hit by them...

(But the name sure is something. Though the kanji is different...okay, I'll call it Kouryuu. It's kanji anyway. That'll be OK!)

"Then both of you, please get into position."

(Agumon Digivolve!)

The broadcaster prompted us. Rin were in the air (well obviously), around 5m away from me. Unlike Cecilia, she's going to attack me directly.

(Greymon!)

"Sorry about the other day, Ichika. And what's with that other look? It doesn't matter to me, let's settle this!"

Rin seems to be in a better mood compare to that day.

"But let me say this first, the IS defenses aren't perfect. The suit can be damaged by an offensive power that can break through the defensive shields."

That's not a threat, but a fact. It's said that there seems to exist a 'final weapon' that can directly damage the IS pilot, one of them is my antler. However, it's against the rules, and more importantly, it's dangerous although that doesn't count mine. But why does she tell me about this?

"It's possible to wreck the entire suit without killing the pilot."

This isn't any different from the situation now. And representative candidates should be able to do so, right?

"Then both of you, begin."

*HUA*—with the sound of the buzzer, Rin and I start to take action.

*CLANG!*

Our blades meet, in case for me my blade is my antler and for her was her unique shaped 'scimitar' sword. We parry each others attacks, none of attacks hit. I decided to grab Rin to turn the tables.

The unique shaped 'scimitar' sword—even if I call it that, the shape's about the same—in Rin's hands is swaying about like cheerleaders' rods. As there are blades on both sides, they're more like weapons on a blade. Rin's attacking me from sideways, vertically and diagonally, and since it's spinning rapidly, it's hard to grab her.

(Not good. This will become a battle of attrition. Got to pull back first—)

"—That's too naive!"

*PA!*, Rin's shoulder guards open, and the moment the ball-like things fired, my body got 'blown' away by some invisible impact. Looks like Kanzashi was right that I should stick with Greymon, but was that an invisible weapon?

"That was a jab."

She reveals a proud look on her face. After that, the real attack will come—!

*DOMP!*

"WAH!"

I got hit by the invisible fist onto the ground. The blow was strong enough to knock me down. This is bad!

* * *

"What was that...?"

Houki, who's watching the live broadcast from the arena, muttered.

Replying her is Cecilia, who's also watching the screen.

"'Impact cannons'. These compress the nearby air into a cannon barrel, and the resulting shockwave will fire it out like a cannon—"

They're 3rd generation weapons like Blue Tears, Cecilia said. However, Houki isn't listening, as on the screen, Ichika's in a tough spot.

Every time Ichika got hurt, Houki's heart would skip a beat. Despite his looks, Houki still have feelings for Ichika.

(Ichika—)

It's a tougher battle than the one against Cecilia. More than getting victory, Houki just wants Ichika to be safe.

* * *

"You sure can take the blow really well, I should tell you that the specialty of the 'Dragon's Roar' is that both the barrel and bullet are invisible to the naked eye. You're as tough as you look Ichika, just like back then!"

That's right, because of that, I couldn't even see the barrel of the cannons, let alone the shots. And it seems like the oblique angles of these cannons can continue to attack without limit. They can attack from above, below and even behind. The trajectory is linear. So from these, it can be said that Rin's abilities are supreme, no matter whether they're 'unlimited movements' or 'all-around axis reversals', she managed to learn all the basics to a rather skilled extent.

To be able to mix and mash these basics together, she's really a tough opponent.

She charges towards me and prepare for another attack at close range.

*THOMP* *THOMP* *THOMP* *THOMP!*

"?"

Just as Rin's blades are about to hit my antler, the entire arena shakes with a sudden boom. The cause-isn't Rin's cannons; the attack range and power is different.

Also, smoke can be seen rising from the center of the stage. Seems like the noise from just now was the shockwave caused by 'that thing' which pierced through the arena and its defensive barrier.

"Wh-What's going on...?"

Rin asked me, who's all confused because I don't understand what's going on.

"Ichika, the match's suspended! Hurry up and return to the control zone!"

What's Rin talking about out all of a sudden? Just as I'm wondering this, I have a bad feeling.

-The heard source in the middle of the stage is an unknown IS. Sealing the arena now.

"Wha-"

The arena and the barriers are made of the same material as the IS. As something which could penetrate it entered, this place is sealed.

In other words, we're in trouble.

"Hurry up, Ichika!"

"What do you want me to do?"

"I'll buy you some time, hurry up and run away!"

"What, I'm not going to leave you here, I need to know about our past!"

"You're talking about that, now of all times!"

"WATCH OUT!"

At the last second, I lunged at Rin. The infrared laser was just shot at where we were.

"Ho-Hold on a minute, you idiot! Let go of me!"

"H-Hey, stop getting agitated-you idiot! Stop hitting me!"

"Shu-Shut up! You're too noisy!"

"Incoming!"

Forget about Rin, right now, after the mist cleared, another shot is fired over.

After barely dodging the enemy's attack, the enemy IS floats over.

"When did this..."

The greyish IS looks abnormal; it's arms are abnormally long, all the way till below the waist, and there's no neck, shoulder or head that can be seen.

Most uniquely, it has a 'full-body armor'.

Normally, the IS will only deploy armor over only a part of the body, because there's no need to have a full armor. The defenses are all done by the energy shields, so the armor appearance is meaningless. Of course, there are defensive IS that can carry physical defensive shields, but even with that, an IS without even 1cm of skin revealed is something unheard of.

Besides, the large size of the IS means that it's not a normal one. Including the arms, the frame of that thing is over 2m long, and probably the jet propulsion nozzles all over its body are used to maintain its position. Its head reveals sensors that aren't arranged properly. There are also 4 holes on both sides of the forearms that allow it to fire those lasers.

"What are you?"

"..."

Of course-this is to be expected, but the mysterious intruder didn't answer my question.

"Orimura-kun! Huang-san! Leave the arena! The teachers will use their IS to suppress it."

The one who spoke through the broadcast was Yamada-sensei. Is it just me? Her voice seems a lot more serious than usual.

"-No, we'll deal with it before the teachers arrive."

The IS broke through the barrier. In other words, if nobody's going to be its opponent, it may end up attacking the audience.

"No problem, right? Rin?"

"Who, who do you think you're talking to? Be-Before that, let go of me! I can't move like this!"

"Ahh, sorry."

After I let go of her, Rin suddenly hugs herself as she moves away. Uu...does she really hate being touched my me? "I'm really sorry."

"Orimura-kun? No, you can't! If something happens to any stu-"

I could only listen all the way till there,as the enemy IS charges on. We focus in order to dodge it-success.

"Oh, seems like the enemy's raring to go!"

"Seems that way."

Rin and I stand besides each other, but something's wrong here. There's another intruder approaching here.

The arena and the defensive barrier have been pierced the second time. And the second intruder came, much to my surprise, it's Greymon!

But this Greymon is different, it has some little black spot that represents some sort of chip and it has a black collar on it's neck indicating that it is either a fake or a clone. Everyone was surprised that another Greymon came in along with that mysterious IS, it's two against two right now.

"Greymon?"

"How did it get in here?"

"What's going on here?"

The student's were shocked by this sudden event and started evacuated.

"Ichika, I'll cover you with the shock cannons, go right in."

"That's right. Let's do this."

*CLANG!*, with that, we clashed our weapons. That's the signal; the last-minute combination of Rin and me charge right forward.

* * *

"HELLO, HELLO? ORIMURA-KUN, CAN YOU HEAR ME? HUANG-SAN!"

There's no need to shout into the IS private chat (for Rin's case), its just that Maya got so anxious that she forgot about that.

On a side note, the people around her must be thinking that she's just a weird person.

"Since he said that he wants to fight, why don't we just let him do so?"

"W-WHAT, ORIMURA-SENSEI! HOW CAN YOU CASUALLY SAY SUCH A THING!?"

"Calm down, and have some coffee. You're anxious because you lack sugar."

"...Erm, sensei, that's salt..."

"..."

Suddenly stopping the spoon that's pouring salt into the coffee, Chifuyu puts the white pieces back into the container.

"Why is there salt here?"

"Who, who knows...? But there's the oversized label 'salt' on it..."

"..."

"Ah, so you're worried about your brother? No wonder you made such a mistake-"

"..."

An irritating silence, a really irritating silence. Feeling that something bad may happen, Maya tries to change the topic.

"Oh, yes-"

"Yamada-sensei, please drink this coffee."

"Huh? I-Is-isn't that the one you poured salt on..."

"Here."

Facing the coffee (with some salt) being forced onto her, Maya can only weep as she accepts.

"I-I'll take it then..."

"The coffee is hot, just gulp it down at one go."

THERE'S A DEVIL HERE!

"Sensei, please allow me permission to use my IS! I can deploy it right away!"

"I would really want to, but-look at this."

Chifuyu knocks on the flatscreen display and changes the intel screen. These values are the data on the 2nd arena.

"The barriers are set at level 4...? And the doors are all locked-is it that IS' doing?"

"That's the case. Because of that, we can't evacuate nor send support."

"But what about that Greymon, how did it entered the arena in the first place?" Kanzashi who was with them points out another problem, Greymon.

"I don't know, more importantly, where did it come from in the first place?"

Though Chifuyu's saying this calmly, on a closer look, her hands are unable to restrain her anxiety as she knocks onto the screen.

"If, if that's the case, why don't we ask for support from the government under the excuse of an emergency situation!-"

"We've done that already. Right now, the elites who have trained for 3 years are forcefully entering the system. Once we get rid of the shields, we can let the squads attack."

Having said that, the increasing anxiety causes Chifuyu's eyebrows to twitch. Treating that action as a signal of danger, Cecilia restrains her emotions as she sits down on the bench.

"Sigh...so we can only wait..."

"What's the matter? We won't be sending you into the assault squad, so don't worry!"

"Wh-What are you saying?"

"Your IS armaments are suited for taking on many suits, it would be a hindrance when used to take on one enemy, while being along many other suits."

"Such thing! To say that I'm-"

"Have you done any combined training before? What was that mission? How do you use a wide range weapon? What's the setup of the enemy? Did you think of what the enemy level is? The suit's operation time-"

"I-I got it! That's enough!"

"Humph, its good that you get it."

Giving an 'I surrender' pose, Cecilia shakes her hands to prevent Chifuyu from going on rattling about what seems to be an hour long lecture.

"Sigh...I'm really unhappy about my own ineptness.."

Due to fatigue, the sigh is even longer than the previous one. Then Cecilia notices something.

"That's strange? Where's Shinonono-san..."

In contrast to Cecilia, who's looking around, only Chifuyu's looking sharply in a different direction. However, nobody has the time nor mood to realize this.

* * *

It was an even match, me and Rin vs Greymon and that mysterious IS.

"Rin, you take out that IS, I'll take him down!"

I charge towards my clone and grabs him and he did the same. This is getting nowhere fast. No matter where I try to attack, he just counter the attack with his attack and the same thing happened for my case and we ended up exchanging blows towards each other. Grabbing a throw is also impossible, even if my throw went successful,it will counterattack with his throw.

Even though we are same in appearance and power, it now depends whether I have the skill or not that determines if I win against my clone or not. The only option for me is to change into GeoGreymon, but it has never been attempted yet.

Rin seems to have problems dealing with the mysterious IS, it seems to dodge almost all of her attacks. I think I have an idea. It might be risky though...

"Rin, lure the IS to attack here!" I intended to use the IS' attacks against the clone.

"What, are you crazy!"

"Just do it!"

"Fine!"

As Rin came to me, the IS soon followed. The plan seems to be working.

Greymon seems to ready it's 'Mega Flame', gotta dodge that and some how let it hit the IS.

The 'Mega Flame' didn't hit either me or Rin and hit the IS by chance when it tries to aim at Rin and incinerate the head of the IS. The plan worked. But when I want to find out who the pilot was, there was nothing. It was an unmanned IS!

"Rin, we might go all out with either of them, which one do we go first?"

"I suggest we take down the IS first!"

Then I noticed something, the IS has stopped moving. Maybe it's the fact that it is an unmanned IS. But Greymon is different, he charges at Rin and she was left with 180 shield energy.

"Damn, this guy won't hold still isn't he?!" Greymon keeps on attacking and the IS started to attack as well.

"Then get ready-"

While I get into attack position, the audio broadcast of the arena lets out a loud voice.

"ICHIKA!"

*Cree*-carrying a loud extended echo along with it was Houki's voice.

"Wh-What are you doing..."

Looking at the audio room, the umpire and commentors have collapsed onto the ground! They probably got hit when the door opened, right!? And it looks like they won't be able to recover in the short term. Uwahh...

"IF YOU'RE A MAN...IF YOU'RE A MAN, EVEN IF YOU CAN'T WIN, YOU HAVE TO DEFEAT THAT KIND OF OPPONENT!"

She shouted, and the *cree-* echoes rings from the speakers. I can see her panting 'ha...ha...' as her shoulders tremble. She looks angry, yet anxious, a really unbelievable look.

"..."

-Damn it! The moment I noticed it, the enemy IS seems to have gotten interested in the voice that came from the audio room. Its sensors turn away from us as they look at Houki, and Greymon seems to do the same, the growl indicating that he's going to attack.

"RUN, HOUK-"

I charge towards Greymon and pinned him to the ground, but he knocked me with his tail. Rin tries to stop and distract the enemy IS and it seemed to be working. While Greymon is trying to get up, I turned my focus towards the enemy IS and somehow hacked it's right arm with my antler. Despite the damage the enemy IS sustained, from the clone Greymon's 'Mega Flame' to it's right arm being hacked, it's still up for a fight.

However, my left side got countered. Seeing the heat source, it seems like the enemy wants to counterattack with the lasers under close range.

""ICHIKA!""

I heard Houki and Rin shout-don't worry. Didn't I say that I have a plan?

"...Is the target locked on?"

"Perfectly!"

The voice came over. Though I feel that she can be too talkative sometimes, at this moment, her voice has never been so reliable.

At that moment, the 4 Blue Tears spear through the enemy IS from the stands.

That's right. The attack just now broke through the barrier.

*BAM!* The attack causes a small explosion, and the enemy IS falls onto the ground. Unshielded, the enemy shouldn't be able to take even a single second of the Blue Tears combination attack.

Though humans can expect it, an unmanned suit can't surpass the attack functions out of what it knows. A great person seemed to once said that free-will is humans' greatest advantage, and that is the case here. Humans are cunning creatures who can operate differently and use tactics that robotics wouldn't think of.

"That was close."

"If it's Cecilia, it's possible."

I replied in a confident tone. Since she's an opponent I fought before, I know best how strong she is.

But are my words too unexpected? Her response seems rather barmy.

"Is, is that so...that, that's too be expected! Besides, I'm Cecilia Alcott, England's representative candidate!"

It's my chance. "Mega Flame!" The giant fireball hits the body of the enemy IS possibly rendering it immobilized.

The IS seems to stopped, but it's not over yet. The IS fire it's laser from the left arm as the last attack and knocks me down 100m from the blast. Meanwhile Greymon is still aiming at Houki and Houki was still in the same location.

Cecilia and Rin started to distract him from Houki but Greymon counterattack with his 'Mega Flame'.

Better to try now than later, I need to change into GeoGreymon because it has higher spped than Greymon and higher attack, but at a cost of defense. I need to do it fast because that last resort attack from the enemy IS was a direct hit and I'm losing consciousness.

(Greymon Trans-digivolve!)

(I...will protect Chifuyu-nee, Houki, Rin-and everyone else!)

(GeoGreymon!) It's a success! But I have no time to waste.

* * *

"What in the world?" From the broadcast screen, Maya was stunned the others around her were no different.

"He finally did it." Kanzashi said at the same time a message appeared.

"What's this?"

In the message was information regarding Ichika's other champion form.

GeoGreymon

A subspecies of Greymon that prefers to be offensive than it's defensive counterpart. It has a higher attack and speed but has lower defense than Greymon.

"Hmph, Seems convenient information but where did the message come from anyways?" Chifuyu and the rest were baffled.

* * *

I charge towards him and perform a tackle, the clone was down and he seemed to be limping. He must have sustained damage from Cecilia and Rin.

This is my final move, "Mega flame!" The flames incinerate the clone and it stood still and disappeared into ashes.

"It's finally over..." I lost consciousness and exhausted, I reverted back not into Agumon but Koromon (Kanzashi mentioned to me about this).

"Uu..."

Being woken up by all the pain in my body, I open my eyes.

Not knowing where I am, I look around. This seems to be the infirmary, and I'm lying on the bed.

In the small and cramp space that's separated by the curtain, it makes me feel tight yet comforting. I continue to look around as my consciousness registers both these conflicting feelings as I try to understand what's going on.

"You're awake?"

The curtain got pulled aside. Taking action before she confirms what's going on...ahh, that's definitely Chifuyu-nee.

"That was one stunt you pull there, I bet it cost a lot of energy to that. Be careful, you're still injured."

"Yes..."

I'm still dazed. While hearing Chiifuyu-nee's words, I continue to wonder why my body is covered with wounds. My eyes naturally turn to look outside the window. The sky is gradually turning a deep red; it should be school dismissal time.

"You got hit by the largest blast of the impact cannons and yet you still determined to keep going? To think that you could survive."

Hearing Chifuyu-nee's description, I still can't remember anything. Huh?

"Anyway, good to see you are safe. I would be unable to go on with my everyday life with ease if someone of my family dies."

Right now, Chifuyu-nee's expression is a lot more gentle than usual. As a family member who relies on me, she can only reveal such a look.

"Chifuyu-nee."

"Hm? What is it?"

"Nothing, well...sorry for making you worried."

Surprised by my words, Chifuyu-nee smiles.

"I'm not worried about you, as you wouldn't die that easily. Besides, you're my younger brother."

That's a strange type of trust you have. However, I know that this is Chifuyu-nee's way of hiding her awkwardness, so I'm not really bothered by it.

"Then, I got other things to settle. I'm going back to work. You can go back to your room once you finish resting."

Chifuyu-nee merely said this as she quickly walked out of the infirmary. She's really someone who's serious at work; that is the ideal adult to me.

"Ah-ahem, ahem!"

Seems like somebody just brushed past Chifuyu-nee...or should I say, the one who deliberately coughed must be Houki. Can't be wrong here.

*Shua!* She pulled the curtain aside with both hands. The half-opened curtain is now opened completely by Houki...eh, there's no need to open it completely!

"Yo, Houki."

"Hm, nn."

The childhood friend with a ponytail straightens herself as she snorts.

What should I say? She's not angry, but she's definitely not in a good mood.

"Th-That, well, as for the battle today..."

"Hm? Speaking of which, how was the match? It didn't count, right?"

"Ah, ahhh, that's to be expected, since a lot of things happened."

That's true, but when will the next match occur? I would be really grateful if it could be held after I recover.

"Wh-What were you thinking!?"

"Huh?"

I suddenly got scolded. What is she angry about? Is she really angry? It looks like she's acting angry to hide some other emotions."

"I told you to win...but you could have left it to the teachers, right? Haven't you heard of 'overconfidence will lead to self-destruction'?"

"Ah, so I won?"

"Stop talking about winning!"

What's with her?

Houki's panting as her shoulders continue to tremble. Why are you so angry-ah!

"Were you worried about me?"

"Of, of course not! Who would be worried about you?"

You weren't...at least worry about me a bit! You told me that you're my childhood friend after all!

"An-anyway! You're grateful for the training you had, right!? We will continue with it, you got it!?"

"Ah-okay, okay, I got it."

"Good that you know...I'm heading back to the room."

Well that was awkward,

"...Ichika."

"Hm?"

"That, during the battle...you were, were, were..."

Funny?...Or something like that?

"Cool...no-nothing!"

I couldn't hear the front part clearly, but since she said that it's nothing, it should be nothing, right? I'll just treat it as nothing!

"Okay then."

Houki briskly walked out of the room as if she was escaping. Whatever the case, please remember to close the door! Also, if possible, I really hope that she can pull the curtains up for me!

After she left, Kanzashi came and sit beside me.

"You finally did it huh?" I think she referred that stunt I pulled during that battle.

"Yeah, I think I used too much energy though."

"Well get some rest, I have something to do."

"Oh OK then, see ya."

"See ya." there she goes. I should get some more rest.

"Hooo...I really want to sleep..."

I got dragged into a deep slumber, probably out of fatigue. Without any resistance, I just sleep comfortably on the bed.

"..."

Hm? What is it? Seems like someone's breathing on me, and the persons seems close. Who is it? Speaking of which, how long did I sleep? What time is it?

"Ichika..."

"Rin?"

"Uu?"

I know the voice belonged to Rin, but I was shocked when I opened my eyes-Rin's face is directly in contact with mine.

"...What are you doing?"

"Yo-you-you'r-you're awake?"

"I got woken up by your voice. Why so frantic out of a sudden?"

"I-I'm not panicking! Stop uttering rubbish, idiot!"

Is this person really the kind who would end a sentence with 'idiot' as a verbal tic? It's somewhat too much to say that so many times! A peculiar role that fails won't have a good end!

"Ah-that's right, I heard the match was null!"

"Of course!"

Sitting beside me on the bed, will Rin peel an apple for me? Though I don't see an apple...

"Ah!"

"Wh-what?"

"What was the result!? We haven't got the rematch, confirmed, right?"

"It doesn't matter!"

"Huh? Why?"

"Anyway, it doesn't matter!"

Such a ridiculous reason. But since she said so, I'll just listen to her! But that matter is that matter, men have to be partial and I'm a man, well used to be.

"Rin."

"What?"

"Can you tell me about the past that related with you and me?"

It was a very long story she told me, she said that we met during middle school when she transferred here in Japan for the first time. She said she had trouble in school because of her nationality and it was me and Dan that saved her. And it was that time when I'm still human and so does Dan, we were both transformed into digimons by certain incidents.

Dan was a different case from mine, he was burnt to death when he attempt to rescue someone from a fire and transformed into a digimon called Gabumon. We met each other for the first time as a digimon and somehow we still know each other.

Anyway back on track, She said that she returned back to China after her parents got divorced and she was in custody by her mother due to the current society revolve into. Speaking of parents I never even heard of my parents, when I asked Chifuyu-nee about it she never talked about it.

*BAM!*, the infirmary door got slammed open.

"Ichika-san, how's your body? I'm here to nurs-ah!?"

Striding in, Cecilia stopped the moment she saw Rin at the bed.

"Why are you...? Ichika's from class 1, there's no need to be visited by someone from class 2, right?"

"What are you saying? It's alright since I'm his childhood friend! You're just a real outsider!"

"I-I'm a classmate, so it's alright! And I'm now Ichika-san's special coach!"

She just emphasized on the 'special'. However, the moment Cecilia said that 'because I'm a representative candidate', she just dug her own grave.

"Then I'll be his special coach from tomorrow onwards, I'm a representative candidate as well."

"That, that won't do?"

"Why? Is there any reason? Ichika agrees, right?"

"No, no you can't! Right, Ichika-san!?" If I have a hand right now, I would facepalm myself right now. (I'm still Koromon.)

"I think Kanzashi would be suitable."

""Wha?""

"Well, to be honest she seems to know about me more than any other people I met so far."

""...""

"What?"

"Okay, let's analyze the battle today! Just you and me."

"What are you saying! Ichika fought together with me, of course he has to analyze it with me! Are you an idiot!?"

"Id...? Humph, because of that, classless people can really be troublesome."

"At least they're better than pretentious people."

"What did you say!?"

"What?"

Ah, these two people's personalities really don't match...or I should say, doesn't Cecilia want to be at least a bit friendlier to Houki or Rin-even if I say that, it's because she didn't that this happened!

(Ahh, really...I just want to go back to my room and sleep...or I should say, I want to take a shower...)

They completely ignore my troubles. Right between the two of them who're quarreling loudly, I sighed.

* * *

50m below the school grounds is a secret place that only people with level 4 authority can enter.

The IS that stopped functioning was immediately transported there. In those two hours, Chifuyu continued to rewatch videos of that battle.

"..."

The lights in the room are off,. and Chifuyu's face, which was lit by the screen lights, looks extremely cold.

"Orimura-sensei?"

A pop-up suddenly appears on the screen. The image that appears on the pop-up shows Maya, who's holding a flatscreen computer.

"You may enter."

After being allowed in, when the door opened, Maya moves in with much more vigor than usual.

"The IS analysis is complete."

"Ah, so how is it?"

"Yes, it's-an unmanned drone."

There are IS technology that the world is still developing, and either or both these technology-remote control, stand-alone movements were used to commanding this. This is a fact that all the people related to the Academy were ordered to keep quiet.

"We don't know how it was operated. The core was burned by Orimura-kun's last attack, and it's unlikely that we can repair it."

"The core?"

"...It's not registered."

"Is that so?"

Chifuyu then mutters 'as expected'. Seeing her declare this with a confident attitude, Maya reveals a surprised look.

"Have you thought of something?"

"No, nothing. Nothing-yet."

Saying this, Chifuyu turns to look at the image on the screen again.

"And another thing, where did that Greymon come from?" Chifuyu points the clone Greymon.

"I don't know, but that Greymon was outside the academy just before that IS destroyed the barrier as if he was waiting for the IS."

"Do you think they're accomplices?"

"I don't think so, there was no connection between the two. The body disintegrated during that last attack, so we can't prove it."

"..."

That's not an expression of a teacher, but more like a warrior. That expression would make one think of the 'legendary pilot' who once stood at the top of the world; however, those sharp eyes of Chifuyu are merely staring at the image on the screen.

* * *

(Koromon digivolve, Agumon!)

I went back to my room after I don't know how many hours of rest since that battle and what I saw was Yamada-sensei and Houki with a luggage by the door.

"What's going on?"

"Oh Orimura-kun, Shinonono-san has to change rooms."

"Why?"

"Idiot, boys and girls can't live in the same room together."

"...Oh."

"SENSEI, I'M MOVING OUT NOW!"

"O-Okay! Then let's start!"

As Houki prompted her, Yamada-sensei's body trembles.

"Umm..."

Now that my co-habitant is suddenly gone, the room seems to feel like it's twice as large.

Speaking of which, it's really lonely to be alone.

Before she left she said to me,

"Ne-Next month, in the individual division tournament..."

That tournament should be held in June, and it seems different from the class representative tournament; it's a free-for-all individual tournament. Except for the fact that the applicants are sorted by the year of the student, there isn't really that many special conditions. However, the fact that a personal IS has an overwhelming advantage hasn't changed, and I'm not sure if I'm considered an advantage too.

"If, if I win-"

Houki blushes as she continues. For some reason, she seems to be blushing as she looks at me.

"You-You'll go out with me!"

Houki emphatically points at me.

"...What?"

Of course, as of now, I am a bit puzzled, but this seems to be a declaration of war.

* * *

**That's it for this chapter, rather a quick update if I say so myself but the Silent Knight will be a different story. Next chapter will be introducing Dan the Gabumon and would possibly join with Ichika in the IS academy.**

**Ichika didn't dark digivolve to SkullGreymon in this chapter during the fight instead, he undergoes a process of Trans-digivolving (I have no other name to come up with) which was digivolving within the same level. But he will dark digivolve into SkullGreymon when he will face against Laura Bodewig.**

**Anyways hope you have a good read. Laters.**


	7. Friends: Gabumon and Seadramon

Disclaimers: Infinite Stratos do not belong to me.

Story so far: Orimura Ichika was suppose to fight against Rin in a Class Representative Tournament but an attack involving a digimon and an unmmaned IS suspended the match. During the attack, Ichika has learned Slide Digivolving(Thanks for the info) and save the IS academy along with Rin and Cecilia. Houki has moved out into another room and as she left a declaration was made by her to Ichika regarding about the upcoming match.

IS Arena 1

"Mega Flame!"

"Howling Blaster!"

Red and blue flames collide with each other as Ichika(Greymon) and Dan(Garurumon) were having a spar.

It was Sunday and Ichika and Dan decided to practice by having a friendly match against each other in the IS academy, specifically in the arena. If they would have a spar or practice somewhere else, it will cause a problem. Since they have the school pass, Dan was allowed to go in. While they were fighting, a conversation can be heard between the two digimon.

"So..?"

"So, so what?"

"How's life in here?"

"Pretty good I suppose."

"Don't lie to me, I can tell you were lying."

"Oh really?"

"Look around you, you have only girls in this facility."

"And I'm suppose to be happy about that?!"

"What, are you that dense, or is it the helmet?"

Just then Kanzashi came into the arena.

"Um Ichika, are you here? Would you like to-"

Kanzashi who was carrying DVDs, dropped it when she saw Garurumon.

"Is that Garurumon?" Her eyes are filled with amazement.

"Is that a friend of yours Ichika?"

"Yeah, she helped me during training."

"KYAA~!" Kanzashi approached Garurumon like a fan girl.

"Uh...she seems energetic."

"The fur is soft~"

"I suppose it's the time to stop for lunch."

"Orimura, what are you doing-" Chifuyu came in and check the arena in case if it's need for maintenance along with Maya. Ever since the Greymon and the mysterious IS incident, the school tried to upgrade the security to prevent the same incident from happening. And what they find was rather surprising. They turn to Kanzashi as if she knows what is the whitish blue wolf.

"Kanzashi, you might want to explain us what is that bluish white wolf later."

The girls are gathering in the arena as they walk in and take a gander at the white wolf.

"Onii, let's go to the cafeteria." Dan's little sister, Ran who joined with him called.

"Ah, we'll be going now. Come on Ichika."

"OK, lunch awaits."

Both Ichika and Dan digi-devolve back into Agumon and Gabumon respectively.

Dan and her sister didn't brought their own lunch so they would order lunch at the school itself. Despite it's Sunday, this is a boarding school and students stay, sleep and eats in the school.

"Ichika-san, who is this 'person'?" As soon as the guys reached the cafeteria, Cecilia asks Ichika about the new friend.

"Oh, this is Dan, my middle school friend."

"Dan, don't tell me that's you."

"Surprised Rin?"

'You're not like this the last I saw you, you guys have changed literally ever since I returned to China."

"Oh come on Rin, it's not that bad. I can spit blue flames now!"

"No it's not good, my friends are turning into 'that'!"

Houki seems to be quiet as she was with them the whole time during lunch.

"Hello Ran..."

"Rin-san..." Both Ran and Rin glared at each other, sparks are coming from their eyes. Dan sighed when he saw this," This brings back memories..."

If I remember what Dan told me, Rin and Ran are not exactly in terms with each other when they first met.

"Hey, what's that furry creature?"

"Maybe a friend of Orimura-kun?"

"It might be, but what is it?"

"Maybe he'll be here at the IS academy." The girls that surround the cafeteria started to gossip.

Houki

Ichika seems to be not the only one who turned into a 'digimon', his friend as he might say it seems to have almost the same story. Why was it that they were turned into a digimon in the first place and how they were turned from a human into a digimon for that matter.

His friends little sister seems to have attracted to Ichika, this is bad. It has been six years since we saw each other and he has changed dramatically in a very physical way.

From what I've heard from him that Ichika hasn't wield a sword for a year and it's new physique is actually a hindrance for Kendo, at least his sharp claws make up for it in battle.

Still I can't help but feeling curious and I just have a bad feeling or rather a bad omen is coming.

Normal POV

"So Ichika, does this mean that I'm gonna be here just like you?" Dan started to spoke.

"I don't know, I was able to come here through special means."

"'Special means' you say?"

"Now that you mentioned it, how and why did you come here?" Cecilia asked.

"I suppose Chifuyu-nee recommended me to."

"Hmm..."

"If I were to come here in the IS academy, then Ran will be my kouhai then.'

"Kouhai, does that mean that-"

"Yes Ichika-san, I'm going to the IS academy next year." Ran spoke and showed Ichika the IS suitability test. It was an 'A'.

After that incident, Ran decided to take the IS suitability test and it was free. No charges were made when students would like to make the IS suitable test.

"An 'A'? Then you'll be a great pilot like me, the great Cecilia Alcott, The cadet representative of England and a valedictorian along with Ichika-san."

Along with Cecilia, Houki and Rin were also surprised by Ran's IS suitability test result. They have a rival on their hands next year.

"Oh you're Cecilia Alcott, the one who Ichika-san duel against during the class representative match?"

"Yes, that would be me, I see Ichika-san mentioned about me to you, is that right?"

In the IS suitability test, it seems that each person from the group has respective grades:

Cecilia-A

Houki-C

Rin-A

Ichika-N/A(In the canon, he's 'B')

Ran-A

Dan-N/A

After much sparring after lunch, Dan and Ran decided to head back to their home and Ichika was exhausted from the spar. In that spar, Ichika digivolved into Geogreymon to surprise Dan and after the spar Dan thought he can also digivolve into another form after a lecture from Kanzashi until 6 PM where they would go home.

"Well that was worth the spar." Ichika decided to take some time with Kanzashi, who is in a happy mood.

"Hm, you seem in a good mood Kanzashi."

"Mm, that's because I met with another digimon."

"Oh, you mean Dan?"

"So this Dan is your friend?"

"Yes, me met each other like this around a year ago."

"You mean when you two become digimons?"

"Yeah."

"I wonder if there's any more digimon beside you two?"

"..."

After parting ways, Ichika and Kanzashi went to their respecting rooms to get some rest.

Ichika

It's quite lonely since Houki moved out, even though I've got all the room to my self. Before Houki left, she said something about some tournament that suppose to be within this month of June. I looked at the calendar that's hooked into the wall and sure enough, there it is, the individual division tournament.

The individual division tournament, as it states is an individual tournament and it will be held for an entire week. This is because every student from all three years were taking part of it including me. As if now, I'm the only 'male' who is able to entered this IS academy and it will be quite a surprise to the people of the world if they knew about me.

I heard that even high-ranked officials from around the world will come to see this tournament, probably because they want to see the third-years I suppose. This place really is a high prestige I had to admit.

Last match, the class representative tournament was suspended because of that attack and everyone was ordered not to say a word about it despite their curiosity. As for Rin, Cecilia and me, we were forced to signed an oath since we were the one's directly involved in the attack.

It still on my head, where did that Greymon came from and why does it attack here along the mysterious IS despite they are not accomplices? I can tell they are not allies during that fight.

Ring Ring~

Hm? Who would send me a message this time of the night.

'Orimura Ichika, You might be curious as where that Greymon come from so I shall tell you. I send that clone Greymon to test your abilities to ensure your safety is in your own strength. As for the IS 'Golem', I am earnestly not responsible for it, Shinonono Tabane is the culprit you're looking for since she's the one hacking the IS 'Golem' to attack the IS academy. I will keep an eye on you to see your progress and there should be the 'Guardian of the Sea' which you might want to make friends with. -Rukotaro.'

Hm, it's been a while since I've been make contact with him. He has saved both me and Dan and he wants me to see the so-called 'Guardian of the Sea'. Whoever it is, it must be related to Rukotaro since he mentioned it in the message.

Yawn~

That sparring really tire me out, and I'm just a short distance from my bed. As I went for my bed a knock can be heard from my door, there goes my early sleep.

"Ichika, are you there?"

"Yeah."

I opened the door and reveled Rin just outside my dorm standing there.

"Hey you yellow dinosaur thing."

"It's Agumon."

"Whatever, so do you want to come with me for dinner?" Rin asked me for a little dinner.

"Uh sure, that's sounds nice."

"Well let's go to the cafeteria. Hey Ichika, mind giving me a ride?"

"Hm?"

"Just this once."

"Okay..."

As Rin who is on my head and I arrived at the cafeteria, many girls in there are wearing their casual night outfit which doesn't cover much of their skin.

"Oh, it's Orimura-kun. Hello-"

"Whaa!? O-Orimura-kun!?"

I guess me and Rin are gaining much attention over here. And there's the Agumon costume wearing friend and classmate of mine, Honne.

"Yo, Orimu-"

"You're calling me that?"

"It's confirmed, Also you're eating with me and Kanalin~~"

The Agumon cosplayer somehow always stick to me, whether I'm aware of her or not.

"Too bad for you, Ichika's gonna have dinner with me."

"Ah, you're so courageous Ling Ling,"

"D-Don't call me that!"

Hm, Rin seems angry, I wonder why?

"But would it be more appropriate if you would eat with someone of your own species?" Honne seem to add on something.

"But you're just wearing that costume, that does not make you the same as him."

"Awww~~ Eh, where's Kanalin? W-Wait for me!" There she goes, Honne can be slow sometimes.

After ordering our food and find our tables, we sat down eat our dinner and discuss about our time together in the past until it's very late at night.

Somewhere on the sea nearby the IS academy, late night

The IS academy was placed in an island on the mainland and the way of transport is through carriage that links from the academy to the mainland. Here in the sea nearby the IS academy lies a shadow that swims about in the sea in a carefree manner. It is not any type of fish that people would usually see and it is not a fish at all. It is a shadow of a serpent and it is the size is larger than the largest whale on earth, the Blue Whale. The serpent would appear at morning, noon and late night. The serpent surfaces from the sea and reveal it is not a serpent that exist on any myth, rather it is a Digimon. A Digimon who is nicknamed by the title 'Guardian of the Sea', Seadramon.

It appeared almost the same time as Ichika and Dan and he himself is once known as Charles. Charles was once an ordinary teenage boy in France where he was raised by a foster mother after his parents abandoned him.

One day around two years ago, he was claimed dead after he was drowned at sea after a ship that he board on sunk by a mysterious IS terrorist attack. And instead of being dead, he was resurrected back as a Digimon named Seadramon. He was rather shocked by his new body but after a while he get used to his new body. But after a year being a Seadramon, he was feeling rather lonely. He cannot return to his home because of his current form, to the people, he is a monster. If he would show himself to the people, it would cause chaos.

As he was going to suffer from the loneliness he had, he had a dream. A dream that Rukotaro, the one who turn him into Seadramon in the first place entered.

He said to him "Go to Japan...Your friends are waiting...in the IS academy..."

Charles was rather confused, but goes to Japan anyways as he has nowhere else to go. It took him lots of energy and time to navigate through the sea, the ocean and after battling to the sea against strong currents, he became stronger than he was ever before. He gets his energy from eating fish that varies from around the world that he had visited. As time passed for him he forgets some of the things he was once done as a human and despite that he would not worry about that.

After another 8 months of taking wrong directions as he is not good with Geography and trial and error, he finally made it in Japan. During his stay in Japan, he once saw a boy drowning nearby the offshore area of the sea and save him as he doesn't want to see someone else to drown like he was as a human. He saved the boy and the boy saw him and was stunned in admiration saying that he saved him. There are few witnesses aside the boy Charles had saved that saw him as well and Charles swim back to the sea and focuses on his destination, which was the IS academy.

During his stay in Japan where he would wait for a friend that his dream told him. He had made a legend of his own in Japan. After saving the boy, he would patrol the sea as a protector to save any individual that is on his sight to prevent any drowning. People who he usually save are fishermen whose boats are sunk for any sort of reason. And within three months after much saving and concealing himself from the people's eyes, he had earned the title 'Guardian of the Sea'.

After months of waiting, a rumor have sparked inside his mind, a rumor that states an attack has occurred in the IS academy and the problem was resolved by a huge dinosaur like creature. To him, he thought it might be the friend his dream was talking about. So he stayed nearby at the IS academy while remaining invisible from other people until the friend comes near the shore where he will talk to the friend face to face.

IS academy, cafeteria, morning

"Hey, did you hear?"

"What?"

"Another group of fishermen was saved by the rumored 'Guardian of the Sea'."

"Eh~ When?"

"Yesterday around late afternoon."

"Wow, this 'Guardian of the Sea' has been around for a year now."

"Yes, I even heard that the fishermen gave the guardian an offering as for saving them around later that night."

Rin, Ichika and Kanzashi went to the cafeteria to have their breakfast, and Ichika have become curious by the discussion happening in the cafeteria.

"So, what's the talk about?' Ichika was the first to start the conversation.

"It's the rumored 'Guardian of the Sea', it said to have said thousands of lives in the sea at this coastal area." Kanzashi answered.

"'Guardian of the Sea' huh? Yeah, I've heard of it too. It's said that no one ever seen it but, they can tell it's a big one as they saw it's shadow under the sea." Ichika was equally interested as Kanzashi.

"OK hold on! All these interesting things happened when I was back at China? Why does everything interesting happened after I left back to my home country huh?!" Rin was frustrated.

After much conversation, Rin goes to her class while Ichika and Kanzashi go to their class as homeroom is almost starting.

Class 1-1

"Alright, From today onwards, we'll be having practical training. As there are training suit, we'll be using IS, so everyone must pay attention! Don't forget to put on the school regulated attire before you get your own IS suits. Anyone who forgets will have to wear the school swimsuit and truit! And if there is not enough school swimsuit, they can wear a bikini as an emergency! And for some unknown reason they don't have a bikini, they would go au naturel for all I care!" All the students are sweat dropped when the homeroom teacher Chifuyu made the announcement.

"Then, Yamada-sensei, begin the homeroom."

"O-Okay."

After giving the command, Chifuyu hands it over to Maya, who is nervous as ever. It is reasonable that Maya would be nervous of Ichika but Maya has been like this even before Ichika came in.

"Well, today, I'll be introducing two transfer students."

"""WHAT!?"""

'Hm, two transfer students?' Ichika thoughts as the two transfer students came in into the front of the class. One was a blonde girl and the other one was a silver haired girl.

"I'm Charlotte Dunios from France. I'm not too familiar with this country so please take care of me."

The blonde transfer student introduced herself.

"France huh?"

"Um, what is this yellow creature that is sitting in the middle front row?" Charlotte notices Ichika.

"Oh that's Orimura Ichika, he's an Agumon and the class representative here. He was once a human and the reason was unknown why he became like this in the first place." Kanzashi answered.

While Charlotte was intrigued by the fact, the silver haired girl's eyes widened while retains her position, which is similar to Chifuyu.

'This is the younger brother of the instructor!?'

"Hurry up and greet them Laura."

"Yes instructor." After Chifuyu ordered the silver haired girl Laura, she snapped out of her thoughts and about to introduced herself.

"Don't call me that, I'm no longer your instructor, you are a normal student here. Call me Orimura-sensei."

"Roger."

Laura stands in front and introduce herself,

"I'm Laura Bodewig..."

"..."

"I-Is that it?" Maya was nervous.

"That's it..." After the brief introduction, Laura approaches Ichika and ready to slap him.

"So it's you-"

Ichika sensing danger readies his pepper breath but as soon as he's going to fire, Laura slaps him hard sending his fireball in the upper left direction, hitting the corner near the ceiling.

"I won't accept it. You're that person's little brother. Who would accept it!?" Laura ignores Ichika's form.

"What did you do that for!?"

"Hmmph!"

Ichika

I can't believe it, she slapped me in front of the class!

"Ah..ahem! Homeroom lesson will end right now. Everyone has to change up as we'll be doing IS practice together with class 2. Orimura, you must come as well, dismissed!"

Somehow I got dragged in as well, oh well. I went along with my other classmates to proceed with the lesson.

"First, we'll be watching a practical battle that involves shooting and close range combat."

"Yes Ma'am!"

The combination of two classes made the reply even louder.

"Today, I will let Alcott and Huang to demonstrate as everyone would going to see a real battle."

""Why me!?"" Both mentioned girls replied in surprised.

"Since you two have personal suits, you can start battle immediately. Okay get out here."

"Why us?"

"You two better up, unless you two are cowards turning on their backs."

In that moment, both Cecilia and Rin perked up.

"This is the stage for me, the representative candidate for England, Cecilia Alcott!"

"That's right. It's a great chance to show everyone the difference in ability as a personal IS pilot!"

"Then who's my opponent? I'm alright even if it's against Rin-san."

"Fufu, that's my line. I'll slaughter you."

"No need to rush, idiots. Your opponent will be-"

*Kiiiiinnn...*

Hm? What's that sound? Sounds like air being split. Don't tell me-

"AHHH-! PL-PLEASE GET OUT OF THE WAY~!"

Huh? What, she's referring to me? -Ack, WAA!"

(Agumon Digivolve! Greymon!)

As I digivolved into Greymon, I grabbed the falling which happens to be Yamada-sensei.

"Hi..." I greeted her.

"A-ah, Orimura-kun, this is rather a romantic situation."

"Hm...?"

I can't understand what she's taking about, all I did was grabbed her like a human would carry his partner in a bridal fashion—oh I think I'm starting to get it. I put Yamada-sensei down gently into the ground.

"Wah~, nice catch Orimura-kun."

"And just in a nick of time too."

"A bridal style carry, I wanna be carried by Orimura-kun too~"

I can hear girls from both classes talking about me what I've done just now.

"Your opponent will be Yamada-sensei, a 2 in 1 match." Chifuyu-nee declared as the battle begins.

"No, this is too..."

"Relax, if it's you two, you'll definitely lose."

Maybe they felt unhappy after hearing that they would lose, as Cecilia and Rin's wills start to

burn, especially Cecilia, since it's important for her to beat her opponent at least once, so her

killing intent and power have risen.

"Then, let's start!"

Cecilia and Rin shouted out as they flew. Seeing this, Yamada-sensei flies up as well.

"I won't hold back!"

"I wasn't serious back then anyways!"

"H-Here I come!"

Yamada-sensei's talking as per normal, but her eyes are now as cool and sharp as they were

before. Cecilia and Rin launched a preemptive attack, but Yamada-sensei easily dodged them.

"Then, during this time...Dunois, give a commentary on the IS Yamada-sensei's using."

"O-Okay."

Charlotte continued to watch the battle in the sky as she explained with a reliable voice,

"The IS Yamada-sensei's using is a [Raphael Revive] from the Dunois' Company. It's a machine

developed at the end of the 2nd generation phase, but the specifications rival that of the early 3rd

generation machines. In terms of deployed mass production IS models, it was the last to be sold,

but has the 3rd largest user-base in the world. Only 7 countries are permitted to create it, and 12

countries use it as a standard IS. Most notably, because of the controls it can allow pilots to fit

what they want. By changing the equipment, it can be configured for all types of combat,

including close ranged combat, sniping and defending types, so there are many partnering

companies working on it."

"Mm, that's enough for now...it's ending!"

Engrossed in Charlotte's explanation, I forgot to look at how the battle is right now.

I turned back to look at the battle, and found that Yamada-sensei's shots were luring Cecilia and

Rin to collide together. Yamada-sensei then threw a grenade at them, and once the explosion

occurred, two figures fall from the smoke of the grenade.

"Orimura, think fast!" Think fast, you want me to catch both of them!?

Without waiting for the answer, I managed to get hold on both of them.

"Good job Orimura, You're starting to use your body very well." Chifuyu gave me a some sort of compliment.

"Uh...thanks?"

"Ku, uu...to think that I actually..."

"Ah, you...she predicted so much of your evasive maneuvers, it's so silly..."

"Is-Isn't it the same for you, Rin-san? We failed because you made too many meaningless mixed

tactics and Impact Cannon attacks!"

"That's my line! Why did you release your BITs immediately? The power was depleted so fast!"

"Ggggrrr...!"

"Kkkkkkk...!"

Seems like they don't have any common agreement do they, at least thank me for saving your asses.

"Whoa~another nice catch Orimura-kun." Well at least there's someone complimented me.

What should I say? Both of them have their own ideas that are pretty random. Anyway, I just

can't watch this further. I can hear the 'representative candidates with their personal suits' stock

drop drastically. However, the most heartless thing seems to be that there's doesn't seem to be a

limit in the drop.

In the end, both of them continued to glare at each other until the girls of class one and class two

started to chuckle.

"Okay now, everyone should understand the ability of the teachers now. From now onwards,

please show some respect to the staff members."

Chifuyu-nee clapped twice to divert everyone's attention.

"The ones with personal frames are Alcott, Dunois, Bodewig and Rin. Then, we'll be

dividing the class into groups of 8. Personal machine users will act as leaders, and you Orimura are also act as leader got that? Split up now."

The instant Chifuyu-nee finished, the 2 classes of girls rush over to me.

"Orimura-kun, let's work hard together!"

"Teach me what I don't know~"

"Hey, hey, can I join in too? Let me join you too!"

...What can I say? The reaction's a lot stronger than what I expected, and I don't

know how to respond as I could only stand about. I can't even see any girl in all the other groups as all the girls come on to me.

Either because she couldn't stand this situation or 'cause she's angry that she didn't foresee this,

Chifuyu-nee pressed onto her forehead with her fingers, feeling really bothered as she bellows,

"These idiots...EVERYONE SORT OUT ACCORDING TO SEATING ARRANGEMENTS!

GROUP LEADER ORDER WILL BE AS DESCRIBED. IF YOU DON'T GET SORTED INTO

GROUPS FAST, YOU PEOPLE WILL BE BURNT INTO CRISP AS I ORDERED ORIMURA TO USE MEGA FLAME TO INCINERATE YOU LIKE THE FIRE FROM HELL!"

Hey, that's an abuse! Regardless, the girls who were surrounding me like ants all moved quickly

and managed to get into their groups within 2 minutes.

"I should have done this from the beginning. Really, they're a bunch of idiots."

"...That's great. I'm in the same group as Orimura-kun! I'm really grateful for my own surname."

"...Sigh-, it's Cecilia...she just lost so badly..."

"...I'll be in your care, Rin-san. Please tell me more about Orimura-kun..."

"..."

On a side note, the group that isn't saying anything is the group of that German transfer student

Laura Bodewig.

The tense atmosphere, the presence that refuses to work with others, the cold stare-down on the

other students, and the mouth that never spoke since the beginning.

Facing such an iron wall, even those pure-hearted 10+ girls wouldn't even dare to talk to her.

Everyone's just lowering their heads and forced to remain silent...ahh, I really feel sorry for

them...

"Then, please listen up. Each group is to take one training suit. There are 3 Uchigane and 2

Revives, so each group, please decide on the type of frame you like the most. Ah, it's first comes

first served-"

Yamada-sensei's even more reliable by 3 times-no, 5 times now. The mock battle just now got

her confidence back, right? As her attitude's really proper, so just removing her glasses alone

seem to make her a 'really capable woman'.

However, what's proper isn't just her attitude. The breasts that girls who are in their teens don't

have are now exposed. Yamada-sensei has a habit of adjusting her glasses, and every time she

does this, the breasts that seem to be called out will touch her elbows-and the heavy sweet fruits

will jingle. Mmmm~sweet fruits that jingles.

I felt a nudge on my foot, I turn to wherever the nudging came from. It was Houki.

"What are you staring intently at? Hurry up and start!"

"Alright then, Houki..."

"Aa-n, this IS is really heavy. I never lifted anything heavier than chopsticks."

"I remember that the practical lessons require 2 people in a group. Orimura-kun, let's go."

"Hey, hey, it's great to be five times bigger than an IS, right? I'm so envious of you Orimura-kun-"

Just when I wanted to talk to Houki, the girls in my group took the opportunity to surround me,

and besides, since I'm the group leader, I can't just say okay to everyone. Things have gotten a lot

complicated.

"W-Well, everyone, please listen to m..."

"Every leader is to assist each group member in putting on the suit. As everyone needs to use it,

we removed the optimizing and personalizing modes. Anyway, before lunch today, everyone

please practice on the initializing."

On the IS broadcast channel, Yamada-sensei's voice can be heard. As it's already past the lesson

phase, right now, I still have some aspects that I don't understand. And besides, I'm the group

leader. It'll be bad if I mess up. The one my group will be using is the IS 'Uchigane'.

"So then, please queue up in order of your student number. Practice your walking. The first one-"

"Register no. 1! Aikawa Kiyoka of the Handball club! My hobbies are watching sports and

jogging!"

"O-Okay, but you didn't need to do a self-introduction..."

"Nice to meet you!"

No really, you don't have to be polite Aikawa-san..

"Oh well, let's begin. Aikawa-san, you should have taken an IS a few times, right?"

"Ah, yes, but only during lessons."

"Then there should be no problems. Anyway, please suit up and try to activate it. If we exceed

the time, we have to stay behind after school."

"The-then that would be bad! Okay, I'll do this seriously!"

I detect no problem with the suit up, initializing and walking, and the practice went by

smoothly.

-Logically, that should be the case, but when the second person suited up, there was a small

problem.

"I'm sorry, but, I can't reach the cockpit..."

"Ah! Aa~..."

Damn it, it's over. I forgot everything since I don't pilot an IS-while using an IS

training suit, you have to kneel down to get out. If you stand up to remove it, the IS will naturally

be in a standing position.

"What's wrong?"

Ohh, Yamada-sensei appears! As she removed her IS already, she's wearing the busty IS suit-so

naturally, I can only look away awkwardly.

"The, that, I forgot the instruct to leave the IS bent down..."

"Ah-so you mean that the cockpit is at a high position, right? If that's the case...can't be helped.

Orimura-kun, please escort her up there."

"...Huh?"

"Wh-What?"

"Huuh~ How lucky-!"

Let me add on, in order, the people who spoke that were me, Houki and the 2nd person (sorry, I

forgot the name).

"Because that's the easiest way. Orimura-kun, please lift her up."

"Oh, okay..."

As instructed I pick her up carefully and help her with adjusting the 'Uchigane'.

Hm? Yamada-sensei's leaving. I guess Chifuyu-nee ordered her to check Laura's group as they are in a slow pace.

Just like last time, as soon as every girl removes her IS, the IS was in a standing position every time despite I told them not to! What is wrong with these girls?!

After much helping the girls with adjusting to Uchigane, Houki seems the last girl in my group. And I have to help her because the last girl made the same mistake of letting the IS in the standing position AGAIN!

"Ichika...would you like to go on a lunch with me later?"

"Um...sure, just make sure we're finished here." Houki seems rather happy.

After the end of the practice, I revert back into Agumon and meet Houki in the roof during lunch.

Houki seems to bring a lot for lunch, is her appetite that big or is it for me?

"Here...I just made a lot so I'll share my food with you." Houki's face is red for some reason.

I took my share of her food and just as I'm enjoying my meal, Houki speak to me.

"What do you think of the transfer students Ichika?"

"...I don't know about the blonde girl Charlotte, but the silver haired girl Laura hates me."

"Do you have any idea why?"

"Honestly, no. I don't even know her for that matter!"

"...I see."

"..."

"Ichika, you could have just let them fall on the ground instead of catching them both."

"What? Chifuyu-nee said think fast." How insensitive of you Houki.

After sharing different conversation, lunch is over and we went to class as usual.

Late night, near the shore

I can't sleep right now due to some anxiety about one of the new transfer student, Laura Bodewig. Why did she slapped me out of hatred? If I remember well, she referred Chifuyu-nee as 'instructor', probably she's one of the soldiers who Chifuyu-nee taught around last year. So why does she hate me in the first place?

As I tried to think about it, I saw a huge shadow in the body of water. It must be the rumored 'Guardian of the Sea' that everyone has talked about. No one really knows what it looks like, but it get it's title from saving people's lives in it's territory. Then I heard someone mentioned my name.

"Are you the rumored Orimura Ichika?" That voice came from the body of water, it seems the 'guardian' can speak.

The guardian surfaces himself from the water, revealing himself to me. It was huge, almost bigger than both of my champion forms.

"Do not fear, I am called by the name of Charles. I'm the guardian of the sea and you seem to be the same as I am. I cannot really explain it how I got this information but I am a creature of your own kind known as Seadramon and you are an Agumon."

Hm, he already knows he's a Seadramon without even thinking about it and he seems to know me as well.

"It's been a long time since I have a friend. I have traveled all the way from my home country of France to meet you in this land of Japan."

"So you've been waiting for someone like me?"

"Correct, you are the only person that I can really open up to right now. Here, here's something I made to proof our friendship."

Charles gave me a blue flute, which as he said is our proof of our friendship.

"After all these two years, I've finally found a friend. I guess this is a start of a new friendship, good night Ichika." Charles swims back into the depth of the sea. I've finally met the 'Guardian of the sea'.

**That is it for this chapter, Charles has been introduced as Seadramon and Dan the Gabumon came to the academy for a spar with Ichika.**

**Next Chapter will involved, Ichika fight against Laura Bodewig in the Individual Division Tournament where Ichika will dark digivolved into Skullgreymon and cause havoc in the IS academy and possibly the whole city. Dan and Charles involved also in the next chapter and there are chances that Ichika will be paired with someone else than Charlotte. Chances are, Dan will tag along with him during the Individual Division Tournament instead of Charlotte.**

**Characters introduced so far:**

**Ichika(Agumon)**

**Dan(Gabumon)**

**Cecilia**

**Rin**

**Houki**

**Charlotte**

**Laura**

**Charles(Seadramon)**

**Hopefully next chapter will turn out good, anyways laters.**


	8. Dark Evolution: Skullgreymon

**Disclaimers: Infinite Stratos along with Digimon don't belong to me.**

**Story so far: Two transfer student arrived at Ichika's class. One of them, Laura Bodewig showed hostility towards Ichika as soon as they made eye contact and deny his existence. Meanwhile at late night, Charles introduced himself to Ichika as Seadramon and immediately become friends.**

Ichika

(Agumon Digivolve! Greymon!)

It was Saturday and Charlotte decided to have a spar against me. On Saturdays, there are no afternoon classes and the arena is free for students to use to train using the training IS provided.

"I had to admit Ichika-san, you surprised me for the past 5 days since I came here. I even heard you beat Cecilia for the class representative position while in this form."

"Yes, but why do you asking me for a spar?"

"Because I want to know your strength with my own eyes."

"OK then, let's do this."

Charlotte's IS is a type of [Revive] but it seems to be customized as it is very different from what Yamada-sensei used during the practice lesson. Instead of boosters, she's equipped with shields in her arm part and the color scheme is rather different too.

"Oh, this is a custom built. This is the [Raphael Revive Custom II], and it has loads of artillery inside this baby."

"Hm, must be family privilege."

"Y-yeah..." Hm, Charlotte seems to be feeling down.

The one that's gonna have a spar with me is Charlotte Dunois, daughter of the CEO of the one who come up with the idea of [Revive]. Revive as oppose to [Uchigane] is a firearm-type IS rather than a close combat range IS. From what I can tell from her IS, she is very good when it comes to piloting an IS and she wants to show her skill to me.

It was unbelievable, during our spar she manage to switch her weapons at a very fast rate and as she said to me, she had lots of firearms on her side, while I can only rely on my sharp claws, horns and fire power.

My horn and my claws is my sword, My fire power is my projectile. Together, I can fight both close range and long range enemies and with constant training and practice, I can digivolve to my next level.

"Mega Flame!" The Fireball that I release was countered by Charlotte's barrages of bullets. I can use Mega Flame in two ways, one was a fireball traveling at high speed and the other was basically a flamethrower for more damage output. Then I have my horns to deal physical damage besides my claws if I have trouble or when I'm in a pinch.

As the spar goes on I decided to take my other form to the test,

(Greymon, Slide digivolve! Geogreymon!)

I jumped in at Charlotte which she was taken by surprised and she manages to break free and we resume fighting. Charlotte counters my attack with a barrage of shots from her wide range of firearms.

After the spar ended when Charlotte declares it a draw, She seems to comment on my fighting styles.

"Ichika, I can see the difference between your two forms. The first form focuses on defense in exchange of speed, while the second form is the opposite. You can actually change the situation of a battle just changing between forms." Charloote seems the type of girl going on with details I suppose.

"You also able to cover close and long range combat, but you'll mostly cover close range due to your flexibility of using your body into an original style of fighting."

"Oh I see..."

"And as for trajectory, I can see you can alter your fire power at a certain form, a form of a fireball, which from my observation, has a fast rate of speed and another one in a form of a stream, which produces more damage output."

"How keen your eyes are Charlotte."

"Thank you, meeting you is rather surprising me I admit, but it's not really that bad." Her smile radiates from her face to mine.

Then the arena started buzzing, there are other students aside from me and Charlotte.

"Huh, look at that..."

"No way, that's the 3rd generation German model."

"I heard that it's still in the testing phase in their country..."

Standing over there was the other transfer student, the German representative candidate, Laura

Bodewig.

Ever since the moment when she first transferred in, she had never interacted with anyone in

class, let alone say a single word. She's a lonely and proud girl.

"Hey."

A voice could be heard from the IS communication channel. As it happened on the first time, I

could never forget that voice. It's Laura herself.

"...What."

Though I didn't really want to answer, I couldn't just ignore her. After I answered her casually,

Laura continued to speak as she glided down.

"You seems to possess unusual abilities, regardless of the matter, I want you to do something simple, fight me."

"No, I don't have a reason to fight you."

"You don't, I do."

If I recalled correctly, She must have hated me because of that incident 2 years ago, the day I turned into what I am now. I realize that it's no me itself, it's about Chifuyu-nee. She forfeit the Mondo Grosso tournament that day just to save me, I think this is her reason, but what is the purpose of it?

"If it wasn't for your existence, instructor would have easily reclaimed the championship, so I

will never, ever, agree to your existence."

...And that seemed to be the case. As Chifuyu-nee's student, Laura must practically worship her

strength. That's why Laura hates me for breaking Chifuyu-nee's perfect, undefeated record. Well,

I guess I can understand her feelings, because I'm the same as well. To be honest, I couldn't

forgive myself for being so weak that day.

However, that's different from the situation now, and that's not enough reason for me to fight

Laura. At least, I don't want to fight.

"Maybe next time."

"Humph, since that's the case. I'll make you fight me."

After she said that, Laura switched her black IS into battle mode. At that moment, the large

missile that was equipped on her left arm immediately shot out.

*BAM!*

"Mega Flame!"

Both her trajectory and mine hit each other and exploded on impact.

"Tch, you maybe have power, but you don't even want to fight me? What a waste."

"Why you-!"

"Suddenly starting battle in such an enclosed space. Germans are really hot tempered, huh? So

are your people's beers and brains hot?"

"You..."

Butting in, Charlotte pointed the .61 [Garm] submachine gun on her right hand at Laura.

"To think that the likes of a second generation French IS is standing in my way."

"It's probably more mobile than your third generation German model which still can't be mass

produced."

They glared at each other coolly. Though I'm shocked by Charlotte interfering,I can finally understand why Charlotte is a representative candidate and why her machine's a customized one.

"You students over there! What are you doing! State your year, class and register number!"

An audio broadcast can be heard. Most likely, the teacher who's in charge came rushing over.

"...Humph. I'll retreat for today."

Maybe her enthusiasm was curbed because someone interrupted her, as Laura casually got rid of

her battle mode and left the arena through the gates. Though it's extremely likely that the

extremely angry teacher's standing over there, seeing Laura's personality, she will pretend not to

notice her.

"Are you okay, Ichika?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm okay. Thanks."

Charlotte shows concern on her face, despite my inhumane form she acts normally in front of me.

"That's it for today's training. It's already past 4, and the arena's closing soon anyway."

"Ah, that's good. Oh ya, thanks for your advise. I got quite the lesson here."

"That's good."

She smiled again.

Room 1025, night

I went back to my room, recalling what happened this afternoon. Now I know why Laura is hostile towards me, and from what she has been doing for the past five days, she only focus on me that she literally block herself from her surrounding.

Charlotte has been giving advise about my battle styles and my two current forms. She is quite a helpful one since Kanzashi. Rin, Cecilia and Houki seems want to train with me so that they wanted to 'improve their piloting skills' for the past days ago, I don't really know why they would practice with someone who practically doesn't pilot an IS in the first place. I say it's rather illogical.

Sigh, I guess I will never figure it out at this rate, maybe dinner would make me feel better, and talk to Charles on the way.

As I went to the cafeteria, I heard conversation related to Charles.

"Hey, did you hear, the 'Guardian of the Sea' is actually lives near the IS academy?"

"No way, you're lying."

"No, I saw it's shadow swimming freely in the shore of the academy this morning."

"You mean that this 'Guardian of the Sea' is real?"

"Unless we have proof, we can't confirm it."

"Ugh, it's so frustrating~!"

Charles seems to be popular in Japan lately, I can understand why but he said he hasn't had any friends until he met me. Maybe I should introduced him to Dan. Just then, Cecilia came to my table where I ate my dinner.

"Honestly, I've been hearing the 'Guardian of the Sea' rumor from time to time and it's been a while too."

"What's with you Cecilia?"

"Ichika-san, I have been wondering for the past few days that I once saw you while holding a blue flute, where in the world did you get that?"

"Oh that, I got that from a friend as a sign of friendship."

"Friendship huh?" Cecilia seems not to believe me as she glared suspiciously at me.

Houki came to me as soon as I have conversation with Cecilia.

"..I-Ichika, you're here."

"Hey, Houki..."

"I've heard from the rumors just now."

"What?"

"That German girl pick a fight with you this afternoon."

"What?! Why would she pick a fight with him- Wait a minute, what is your relation with her?"

"Honestly nothing, maybe she's related with Chifuyu-nee. Haven't you noticed?"

"I suppose so, she refer her as 'instructor' any idea on that?"

"From what I've known so far, she hates me because I'm the reason why Chifuyu-nee forfeit the Mondo Grosso match two years ago, and she's not happy with that."

"Oh, so that might explained it."

"But it doesn't make sense to me, I understand her reason but what is the purpose behind it?"

"..."

"..." Silence, Houki and Cecilia and make up an answer for that.

After finishing my meal, I order a fish set for Charles, at least that's what friends do.

"Ichika, you're ordering again?" Cecilia said to me, she along with Houki stay with me a while longer.

"I thought you had enough."

"Oh, this is for my friend."

""A friend..?""

"Ichika-san, who is this 'friend' you referring about." Cecilia face darkens for some reason, I'm just giving food for Charles.

"Ah yes, my friend is waiting outside."

"Ichika, let me see this 'friend' of yours." Houki glares at me as her face also darkens.

"Hm..."

Shore nearby the IS academy

It was peaceful as usual, the calm night winds and the sounds of the gentle waves hitting the rocks near the shore calms me down. I saw Charles' shadow as he swims about. Cecilia and Houki seems to noticed it to.

"Ichika-san, is that the 'Guardian of the Sea'?" Cecilia was the first to ask that question.

"Hm, the 'Guardian of the Sea' is here, Ichika, do you know about this?" Houki followed.

"Why, yes I do. CHARLES COME ON OUT, I HAVE A LITTLE DINNER FOR YOU!"

"Ichika, who is this 'Charles'?"

"Yes, and why are you yelling?"

As on cue, Charles answered their question by surfacing into the shore.

"Ah Ichika, I thank you for that. And who are these two maidens right beside you?"

"Oh right, the one with the ponytail is my childhood friend Houki and the one in blonde curls is Cecilia."

"Though I don't show myself to other people, I'll make an exception this time. I am Charles and I come all the way from France and I'm better known as the 'Guardian of the Sea'."

"This...is the 'Guardian of the Sea'?"

"And he's the same as Ichika-san." Both girls are astonished when meeting Charles, the giant water serpent.

As Charles finished my offering, Cecilia and Houki start a conversation,

"Ichika, just what is this person?"

"Charles? He's a Seadramon."

"So he is the same as Ichika-san!"

"Correct, And I've been waiting two years for a friend."

"You know Charles, I know a friend who is an expert regarding us, and she'll be excited if she meets you."

The conversation goes on, Houki and Cecilia went back to their dorms to get some rest. As for me, I stick around with Charles for a little spar.

"You sure want to do this? In terms of the battlefield I'm in at advantage."

"It's just a little spar, nothing to worry about."

(Agumon Digivolve! Greymon!)

As we prepare for a spar, Charles comes out of the water and ready to fight.

"Let's do this, Mega Flame!"

"Ice Blast!"

Some days later, normal POV

""Ah.""

Both of them let out dumbfounded voices-the time's after school, the place is at the 3rd arena, and the people involved are Rin and Cecilia.

"What a coincidence, I'm about to do some special training for the divisional tournament in order to win."

"What a coincidence. I'm thinking the same thing."

Invisible sparks fly between them. It seems like both of them want to win.

"Now's a good opportunity to decide here, once and for all, who's better."

"Ara, it's rare for us to have a common agreement. Now we can use this chance to see who's stronger, and at the same time, who's more elegant."

Both of them summoned their main wapons and aimed them at each other.

"Then-"

At that moment, a supersonic cannon blast came from above, blocking out their voices.

""!""

After doing emergency evasions, Rin and Cecilia looked up at where the beam was shot from, only to see a pitch black machine standing over there.

The machine name was [Schwarzer Regen], and the registered pilot was-

"Laura Bodewig..."

Cecilia looks unhappy as she braced herself, one reason being that another European Union competitor was here.

"...What are you doing? Firing a shot over here, that's really amazing."

*DONG!* Rin raises the attached [Souten Gagetsu] up onto her shoulder and moved her [Impact Cannons] into standby mode.

"China's [Shenlong] and England's [Blue Tears] ...humph, I actually felt that they were only stronger on the data."

Hearing the sudden taunt, Rin and Cecilia scowled.

"What's the matter? You really like to fight, don't you? Coming all the way here from Germany just to get beaten. You must love being bullied. Is this really something trendy in the potato

fields?"

"Ara ara Rin-san, that Missy doesn't seem to have much vocabulary, so don't bully her too much or it'll really seem pathetic. Even a dog can whimper."

Laura's sharp glare of arrogance seemed to offend those two. Even so, they still tried to vent their anger with words.

But unfortunately, that was futile.

"Sigh...so they let two people who're so weak that they would lose to a mass-produced machine be personal IS pilots? It seems like they really lack talent despite the numbers-your weak countries that can only be redeemed by your history."

*BOOM-!*

With the sound of something being cut off, Rin and Cecilia remove the final safety on their equipment.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it, I got it! She wants to be trashed-Cecilia, let's decide who should go first with Janken!"

"Mn, well, I don't really care whether I go first or last-"

"Ha! Then how about both of you go at me? 1 + 1 equals 2 anyway. How can I lose to women who seem to be fighting over a useless stallion?"

These words were obviously taunts, but having went past their patience, both of them didn't care anymore.

"-What did you just say? My ears just heard 'Please, punch me as much as you like'."

"Insulting people who aren't here, I'm really ashamed of you as a fellow European Union candidate. Let me beat you up until that frivolous mouth of yours is shut for good."

Both of them tightly gripped onto their weapons, and Laura coldly stared at them before opening her arms out slightly and flipping her fingers

"Come at me already."

""AS YOU WISH!""

On the way in the 3rd arena, Ichika

It was the time that was suppose to practice with Charlotte because Kanzashi seems to have work to do regarding about a personal IS or something.

Charlotte did have some work on her hands but she said that she'll come to the arena later.

As I went into the Arena, I saw Laura fighting with Cecilia and Rin. Both Cecilia's and Rin's IS are badly damaged while Laura was only slightly damaged. As the fight drags on Laura keeps on beating her opponents up and from what I see in the distance, her emotionless face into a smile of delight, it sends me in rage.

(Agumon Digivolve! Greymon!)

"Mega Flame!" As Laura did not expect my surprise attack, her IS suffered damage from the flame.

"LET GO OF THEM, YOU!"

I charged at Laura, who was grabbing onto Rin and Cecilia, and readied my horns.

"Humph...emotional and reckless, just like a fool." As she said that she extended her arms, but I continued charging ahead.

My attack hit Laura, and she was knocked down. I can see her surprised face for some reason, why is she surprised.

'What, the AIC does not work?!' Laura gets up in a rage.

"No matter, I'll destroy you with my own power!" Then something struck me, 'her own power'?

We get close and resulted in an arm to arm combat.

"Like I said before, If it wasn't for you, Instructor would have a perfect record!"

"You have reasons I understand, but your reasoning behind it is illogical!"

"Me, illogical? It is you who is illogical. How come you're the younger brother of instructor while you're a monster?!"

Then I felt my rage take control over me, but as my rage is fully controlling me, Someone interrupted us.

"...My my, it's because of little things like this that I grew tired of handling kids. Even if it was a dinosaur with fire power."

"Chifuyu-nee?"

To think that the figure belonged to an unexpected person, and she was still wearing a normal suit. There were ISs here, and she wasn't even wearing an IS suit. She was holding onto a IS sword easily, and that was a huge sword that was 170cm in length, all without the use of an IS.

Besides, she just interrupted the battle from the side. No matter how I feel, she's definitely not an

ordinary human.

"It's fine to have mock battles-but, to the extent of destroying the barriers of the arena? As a teacher, I can't stand by that. You can finish this battle at the individual division tournament."

"Since instructor says so..."

Laura nodded in obedience and got rid of her IS. Her armor scattered into particles of light and

disappeared.

"Orimura, Dunois, is that fine with you two?"

"Ah, yeah..."

I just accidentally answered as per normal, probably stunned by this sudden scenario.

"Answer yes when you're replying to a teacher, you moron."

"Yes."

"In that case, until the individual division tournament, all personal battles are forbidden.

Dismissed!"

*PA!* Chifuyu-nee forcefully clapped her hands, and it sounded as loud as a bullet being shot.

"Hmm...I guess no practice then huh?" Charlotte arrived late but she heard the announcement.

"Yeah..."

Infirmary

"..."

"..."

We're now in the infirmary, and it's been an hour since what happened at the 3rd arena. Rin and Cecilia have completed their treatment, and now that they're bandaged, they're staring away in different directions. I reverted back to Agumon if you've been wondering.

"It would have be alright even if you hadn't saved us."

"We could have won if it had continued."

Forget about thanking me, I even got such an answer. Oh well, it's not like I interfered just to earn their thanks. Basically, I interfered due to my own anger.

"You two..well, at least you two don't look too injured. I can relax now."

"These injuries are nothing-OWW!"

"It's really meaningless to lie down here-EEKKK!"

Really now...

"It must be quite embarrassing for you two to show such an awkward side to the person you

like."

"Huh?"

Charlotte bought the drinks and came back. She seemed to say something, but I didn't listen to it

carefully.

But it just seemed like I'm the only one, as Rin and Cecilia just blushed and started to rampage

after hearing something.

"W-WH-WHA-WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? I DON'T UNDERSTAND AT ALL!"

"I-I-I WASN'T TRYING TOO HARD! IT'S UNCOMFORTABLE HEARING YOU MAKE

GUESSES LIKE THIS!"

Both of them continued to get flustered as their faces turned extremely red...what's wrong? Did

Charlotte say something?

"Here, Oolong tea and red tea. Drink something to calm down, okay?"

"H-Humph!"

"I'll accept it reluctantly then!"

Rin and Cecilia snatched the drinks Charles served up and opened the bottles, gulping them down in one go. Hey hey, you'll damage your bodies if you drink such icy stuff in one shot!

"Well, sensei did say that you two can go back after calming down, so rest for a while-"

*DON* *DON* *DON* *DON* *DONG...!*

"Wh-What? What is that sound?"

The quake-like sound came from the corridor, and it seemed to be getting close, or maybe that's just my imagination.

*BAM!* The infirmary door got sent flying...and no, I'm not kidding. It got sent flying, really!

This is the first time I saw the door get sent flying like that. I thought this could only happen in

the movies.

"Orimura-kun!"

Entering the room were-several girls who came in like an avalache, and this is something really big. As the infirmary only has 5 beds, it's packed full with people in an instant, and they surrounded us on sight, reached their hands out like some mega-sales...wah, this is just like a horror movie. Anyone would be terrified by the numerous hands.

"Wh-Wha-What's up?"

"""This!"""

Facing us while we're still confused, the girls handed over the emergency news and registration

form.

"Wha-What...?"

"'In order to make the battles more realistic, the individual division tournament this month will be done in pairs. Henceforth, all those without pairs will have a partner selected for them in the lottery. The deadline is'..."

"Ah, anyway, just read this part! Here!"

Another hand reached out. Hiiee.

"Pair up with me, Orimura-kun!"

It seems the rules have changed, instead of a 1 on 1 match, it will be done in pairs. But every girl in the first class seems want me to be their partner. I looked at Charlotte and she doesn't know what to do in this situation.

"Sorry, but I will not going to decide on who's going to pair up with me."

"Um, why don't we settle this from lottery." Charlotte seems to having a thought there.

The girls who are in the infirmary seems to think about it.

"Hmm, I suppose it's better for Orimura-kun."

"Yeah."

"No cheating alright~" Why would I cheat?

The girls finally left the infirmary and peace returned to it's proper place.

Anyway, back on topic, I asked Rin and Cecilia what I wanted to ask,

"So why did you two fight against Laura?"

"What, nothing, that's because..."

"Eh, well, how should I explain this...because we females got our pride hurt."

"Hm?"

Why is it that both of them look like they can't swallow it? I suppose one side started battle after a taunt, but as representative candidates of different countries, isn't it bad to act after a taunt? Hm.

"Ah, don't tell me it's about Ichika-"

"Ahh! You're being a loudmouth, Dunois!"

"Tha-That's right! Really! Ahhahaha!"

Charlotte seemed to finally thought of something, but those two girls quickly stopped her from saying it. Charlotte's mouth is cupped by those two as she struggles painfully. Then another question sparked on my mind,

"By the way, I noticed Laura extended her right hand when I charge towards her, is there suppose to be something happening? I'm quite curious because she was shocked about something after I attacked her."

"Ichika-san, didn't you feel it when she does that?"

"Feel what?"

"What?! He wasn't affected by the AIC?"

"AIC? What is that?"

"It's the [Schwarzer Regen]'s 3rd generation weapon, [Active Inertia Canceller]. It's an ability that removes inertia."

"Hm—"

"Ichika, do you know about PIC?"

"I do but...All I know about it was it was used for the IS to accelerate, stop and float in mid air."

"But Ichika-san wasn't affected by it since you don't use PIC."

"Okay, that makes sense. So that's the reason why she was able to beat the two of you."

""..."" I can tell from their silence I was right.

Few days later

It's now the last week of June. IS Academy had already gotten into the individual division tournament mode, and the panic far exceeded what was expected. It was about time for the 1st round, and all the students were still settling the admin matters, clearing the arenas and guiding the guests in.

In the end, I'm pairing up with Charlotte through the lottery, which is in a sense an irony since she's the one who suggested it.

"But this is really shocking..."

I looked at the state of things from the changing room's television screen. Government officials from all over the world, researchers, enterprise representatives and other people were all gathered here.

"There will be people scouting the third years and others checking the progress of the second years after their training. Though the first years shouldn't be affected, I guess they will be noticed if they get the top few positions in the tournament."

"Hm-that's hard work."

Though I just listened to something that I wasn't really interested in, Charlotte seemed to notice what I was thinking as she chuckled.

"Ichika, you just want to fight against Bodewig, right?"

"Well, that's right."

As expected, Rin and Cecilia weren't allowed to participate, so they had to forfeit. It would have been alright if they were ordinary students, but they're representatives of other countries, and have their own personal machine. They couldn't even take part in the tournament, let alone getting a good result. This would drastically affect their circumstances.

"It must be hard for them to be unable to test themselves."

"Don't be frustrated. I guess she's most likely the strongest among all the first years."

"Yeah, I know." The reason they forfeit was that their IS was badly damaged from their fight against Laura.

I wonder though, will I digivolve further, but what about the officials. They don't know about me at all, in fact they had to be explained by Kanzashi who was managing a data that is easy for them to understand.

"Ah, it seems like we have our opponents."

I switched the screen to the schedule and paused my thoughts, looking intently at the words on

the screen.

""-WHAAAAT?""

On seeing the words on the screen, Charlotte and I shouted out.

Our opponents in the first round are Laura and Houki.

Meanwhile

"..."

"..."

Located opposite Ichika and Charles was a corner of the air-conditioned changing room that was overcrowded.

One of them was Laura Bodewig, and the other was Shinonono Houki.

Both of them gave off a weird presence, seemingly covering all the heat that was generated.

(My first opponent's Ichika? Why is it this combination...)

Though Houki closed her eyes, her heart was still wavering.

On the day when the tournament format was switched to a double battle, she continued to wonder whether she should ask Ichika to partner her, and unknowingly, it was already midnight.

But when she rushed to Ichika's room just before midnight, the answer she got was 'Sorry I don't decide on who's my partner.'

After that, she was thinking of what to do. Once the deadline was reached, her partner was chosen through a lottery, and she ended up teaming with Laura. It seems that the only two 1st years who had to use a lottery were Houki and Laura.

(I wanted to win no matter what!)

-This is bad, this is the worst case scenario.

Though Laura was more than capable in terms of battle prowess, Houki couldn't agree with her, and Laura had no intention of listening to her. Even if she spoke, the most she said was 'Don't get in my way'.

They just couldn't get along.

And also, Houki hated something else-the person who was like her.

Laura felt that strength's everything, reminding Houki of her past self.

_It's like my ugly state in the past was seen by others!_ Houki can't hold back this irritation.

(...No, now's not the time to think about this.)

She couldn't fight if she didn't do this-no, she couldn't fight alongside Ichika.

The hands cupped in front of Houki's chest tightened as she silently gathered her concentration.

IS Arena Ichika&Charlotte vs Laura&Houki

(Agumon Digivolve! Greymon!)

I entered at the arena along with Charlotte. And on the other side are Laura and Houki, I can tell there are shocked face and curiosity within the guests.

Greymon

-Champion

-Vaccine

-A Dinosaur Digimon with tough skin on it's head. It's sharp claws and fiery breath can be used to rip apart and incinerate it's enemies. It is smart and makes a good leader.

"Sure saves a lot of time, meeting in the first round."

"I feel the same."

There're only 5 seconds till the start of the battle, 4, 3, 2, 1—start.

""DOWN!""

To think that Laura and I would say the same thing.

Laura uses her [Ignition Boost], but like Chifuyu-nee did I tried to stop her by blocking her pathways. In the end, like the last battle we ended up in an arm to arm combat. But Laura seems to have plan on her own. She deploys plasma blades from her hands and started slashing at me while I countered her with my horns. It seems to be working as I managed to hold Laura off, and I have some advantages when against her, her AIC does not work against me, which is unusual but regardless it is an advantage. But Laura has a battle experience of a soldier and in terms of battle ability, Laura is superior. But she lacks teamwork which is what both me and Charlotte are exploiting against Laura.

"Ichika, I'll handle this, you take care of Houki!" After hearing Charlotte, who luring a raging Houki to me I decided to counter by deflecting her blows and trip her down with my tail.

"Fire Wall!" Wall of flames engulf Houki and her IS sustain significant damage. Just then Laura attacks me with her Railgun.

"Sorry Ichika, she slipped right through me."

Laura's plasma blades hit me while collides Houki as well receiving damage. Her IS already suffered enough damage from three of us and lost on the way.

I noticed something though, Laura seems to be focused at me all the time. And she would crush Houki, her own partner to attack me. Her intention is clear, she's trying to destroy me, and I won't let that happened.

Her swords and my horns connect despite of my bigger size and I used my claws to rip through her armor. Then Charlotte comes from the back and tries to attack Laura.

Laura deployed the plasma blades and attacked us from both sides. The mix of slashes and stabs accurately forced us to back away.

"It's more advantageous for me to have a disadvantage in numbers."

"It's just twice the number!"

Laura Bodewig, who would actually say such words, is truly as strong as a monster. Right now, she was engaging in close range combat with me as she held Charles off with the cabled blades to separate her from me. Though she couldn't combat all 6 cabled blades at the same time, she swiftly shot them out and retracted them in fluidly to create a rapid-fire attack.

"Are you alright, Charlotte?"

"What about you, Ichika? I'll support you now."

Laura is alone, but doesn't mean she's in at a disadvantage. As she mentioned she is more into fighting multiple enemies and she's more of a solo fighter.

That Railgun that Laura possess is a very powerful weapon. A hit from that can send an IS flying and as for me it hurts. But she has other weapons, the plasma blades which seems to be her close range weapon and a some sort of cable used to bind enemies. Most likely she'll use the cables rather than the AIC to bind me.

Inside the observation room that could only be accessed by teachers, Maya was watching the battle footage as she marveled at them and muttered.

"Orimura-kun's really amazing. He sure is talented!"

"Humph, it's only because he's literally a monster."

"But even so, isn't it amazing that Orimura-kun's able to work with others like this? Nobody

would want to work with him if he didn't have charisma."

"If you would called it charisma, it's power that they want and Orimura is currently a free power."

Though Chifuyu frowned as she answered, recently, Maya started to realize that the action was meant to hide her embarrassment, so she didn't really mind. Thinking about it, perhaps this was a 'Show of protectiveness of her own little brother'.

"But the reason why they suddenly changed the format of the individual division tournament was because of the 'Incident' last month, right?"

The incident that happened last month-when the black machine attacked. Most of them felt that it was a terrorist plot. As attacking IS Academy was a serious problem, and since they found out that it was an unmanned suit, the situation got even more critical. Right now, many countries were all suspecting whether they should start to doubt each other.

But relating to the clone Greymon is completely different story, they can't even start to determine where did that Greymon came from.

"Though I haven't heard about the specifics, that's most likely the case. They chose to adopt a tag

team system to let the students gain more battle experience."

"But the 1st years enrolled just 3 months ago, right? Besides, it's not that a war really happened. I

guess there shouldn't be any need for mock battle trainings..."

Maya was correct, and Chifuyu knew that she would ask this question, which is why her expression didn't change.

"It's because of what happened last month. Now that we have many freshmen who have their own 3rd generation frames. When they're facing a mysterious enemy who suddenly appeared, what should they be worrying about?"

"-Ah! So you want them to defend themselves?"

"That's right. Forget about the pilots, we still need to protect the 3rd generation IS that were issued. However, we have a limited number of teachers, so the principle is to let them defend themselves, which is why there's a need for practical mock battles."

"Oh, I see!"

Maya's questions melted away like ice.

On the screen, it showed Laura still fighting against her opponents despite this disadvantageous situation.

"Bodewig-san, she's strong."

"Humph..."

While Maya was really amazed, Chifuyu snorted, seemingly bored.

"Nothing changed. The potential and attack are the same, but even so-"

She still can't beat Ichika.

But she definitely can't say these words. If she says it, Maya may start to say something again. But what Chifuyu didn't know what is going to happen was that she's right, but in a very wrong way.

WAAAHHH!

Ichika and Charlotte manage to hold of Laura and destroyed the AIC by Charlotte. But Laura still can fight as she activated her [Ignition Boost] to get close against Ichika and managed to land a hit but not without blocked by Ichika's helmet. Laura fires her Railgun up close and sends Ichika flying. Charlotte was doing her part on defeating Laura by releasing barrages of bullets into her opponent. Laura dodges most of it, but even if it hits, her superior 3rd generation would only receive little damage from Charlotte.

"SO WHAT! WITH A 2ND-GENERATION'S ATTACK POWER, TRYING TO TAKE DOWN THIS [SCHWARZER REGEN] IS-"

At this moment, Laura suddenly stopped.

That's right. She discovered the strongest weapon amongst the 2nd generation in terms of offensive power,

And Charlotte always had this weapon hidden in her shield.

"I WON'T MISS AT THIS RANGE!"

Charles' shield armor opens, revealing the wheel and hammer that was fused together. It's the .69 caliber battering ram [Gray Scale], also known as-

"[SHIELD PIERCE]!?"

In a moment, just for a short moment, Charles showed an angelic smile that looks like a

declaration of death, a dazzling yet guilt-ridden smile.

*BAM!*

"KUuu...!"

The battering ram hit Laura's abdomen. If she concentrated all her shield reserves and activated [Absolute Defense], she could block this hit, but as her reserves were almost drained, she couldn't block the impact, and it slammed hard through her body. Laura's face twisted with anguish.

However, the attack was not over. As the [Gray Scale] had a roller function, it could be quickly filled with explosives-in other words, there were multiple shots.

*BAM!* *BAM!* *BAM!*

Three consecutive hits. Laura's body trembled terribly. Purple electricity jumped up her frame, forming a forced ejection sign.

-But in the next moment, another change occurred.

Ichika

"AAAHHHHHHH!"

It seemed that Laura just got ripped by something as she let out a scream. At the same time, [Schwarzer Regen] let out a strong electrical jolt and knocked Charlotte off.

"Ugh! What's going on...-!"

"WHAT'S THAT!?"

Charlotte and I couldn't believe our eyes. In front of us, Laura...her IS was changing!

No, it wasn't that simple to say that it was changing. The lines that formed the armor were melting softly into something soft and sticky, engulfing Laura's body in it.

The pitch black corroded darkness swallowed Laura in whole.

"What _is_ that thing..."

I subconsciously muttered. I guess anyone who sees this would think the same thing.

Normally, IS won't change shapes, or more accurately, it can't.

IS could only change shape 'In the first shift when it gets used to the pilot' and 'Switches Modes'.

Though the equipment and some other parts may change slightly, it was impossible to have a base change. Anyway, that was just impossible. That's a flaw on the design.

However, the impossible thing was happening in front of us right now.

And this wasn't just a change in shape, but a mud doll that was shaped through the fusing of the sticky mass.

What was supposed to be [Schwarzer Regen] covered Laura's entire body and continueed to move on the surface. It then started to beat like it had a pulse and slowly descended to the floor.

The moment it landed on the floor, the body looked like it was quickly changing at a high speed before forming a shape.

—Standing over there was 'something' similar to the black IS, but it was completely different from the one that attacked last month.

The appearance and shape was of Laura's shape. The girl's hands and feet were armed with the minimum amount of armor, and the head had armor that covered the entire body. Also, the red lights of the display sensors could be seen from the eye below the armor.

The problem, however, was the weapon in her hand. I definitely couldn't be mistaken. That's—

"[Yukihira]...!"

It was similar to the sword Chifuyu-nee once used.

It was basically a duplicate.

I subconsciously get up and roared out of rage.

"—!"

The next moment, the black IS flew toward me. Looking at the way she was keeping the sword behind her waist, she must be trying to use an Iai techique. If she used it at a distance where I'd definitely be hit, it'd be a flash sure-kill hit. That was definitely the katana technique that Chifuyu-nee uses.

"KU!"

This is not good, I can't even dodge it. Even if I would Slide Digivolve into Geogreymon, the result will be the same.

"...So what..."

But right now, it doesn't matter to me.

"SO WHAT!?"

Driven by burning emotions, I felt my rage flowing through me, my fighting instinct are at peak and I lose control.

—Unforgivable, unforgivable, UNFORGIVABLE!

"WOOOHHH!"

My body glows in a bright light.

"Ichika..."

Normal

Everyone saw it including Laura, who was trapped in the VT system. Ichika has undergo another digivolution. Kanzashi, who was with Maya and Chifuyu observed the process and senses something wrong.

'Ichika...'

Ichika's body that was glowing was now become to take into another form. His body become darken and glow in darkness. His body has become larger and what they see after the transformation terrifies the spectators.

He has digivolved into what most digimons and humans equally terrified of, a fighter who will fight forever. The one who fight even if his flesh would no linger be there and left with just bones. It is a reflection of Laura's view of power, Skullgreymon.

Kanzashi was equally shocked as she knows what has Ichika become. Maya and Chifuyu was shocked when they see Ichika's new form.

"W-What is that?"

"It's probably a 'second shift' in IS terms, but...Sarashiki, what is going on?"

"That...it can't be. It's Skullgreymon!"

"Skullgreymon?" Chifuyu replied.

A message appears and the information of Skullgreymon appears on every screen at the arena.

Skullgreymon

-Ultimate

-Virus

It's hideous appearance alone can send shivers to most of his opponents. It is a powerful Ultimate Digimon that possesses nothing but instincts to fight.

"This is bad, Orimura will not act on his own accord. He will just fight anyone in sight, which happens to be Bodewig and Dunois."

"But Orimura-sensei-"

"We don't exactly what to do. If we would immediately send for reinforcement it will take time. By that time, Orimura would have destroyed everything."

"Ichika, is this what have you become?" Houki, who was still in the arena was face to face with each other. Houki was terrified of Ichika for a reason. His new form, Skullgreymon, same with Laura also bring out the ugly image of herself.

"Look out Houki!" Charlotte grabs Houki to safety as Ichika was about to stomp her.

The imitation Chifuyu attacks Ichika and gaining his attention. A sharp cry was made and it send everyone to cover their ears. The roar was very deafening that it sends windows breaking nearby. For IS pilots, it was worse. The IS has a built it hypersensors to enhance their hearing and sight, but it is a disadvantage at this moment as it worsens the effect of the roar.

Charlotte, Houki and Laura stopped on their tracks and scream in agony from Ichika's roar because they are directly close to the roars range. The rest are no different, as they also cover their ears to preventing them from being damaged.

Meanwhile at Gotanda Residence

Dan has an uneasy feeling, something was wrong.

"Onii, what's wrong?"

"...I'm going out."

"Hey, where are you going!?"

"I have a feeling there's trouble, my instinct told me so."

"*sigh* Fine, I'll come with you."

"But-"

"Don't worry, I'll be fine. Let's go."

(Gabumon Digivolve! Garurumon!)

After Digivolving, Ran rides on her bid brother and go along with him.

"To the IS academy!" As fast as a cheetah, Dan proceed to the IS academy.

At sea, near the IS academy

"What in the world?" Charles heard the roar and was sensing trouble.

He surfaces himself and looks for the source, and what he find was terrifying.

"Ichika!" He jump out of the water and comes to location where Ichika launches an assault.

IS Arena

Right now, Ichika was against the imitation Chifuyu and he seems to have the upper hand. His extremely large size gives a large advantage to him and grabs the imitation Chifuyu and throws it and launches his attack.

"Dark Shot!"

The attack missed but it destroyed the whole arena barrier with ease.

"Dammit, He destroyed the barrier!" Chifuyu cursed at the situation right now, "Where are those units right now?!"

"It will arrive within 3 minutes!"

"That's too long, we have to stop him at some point!" Just as Chifuyu would argue about it, Rin and Cecilia arrived at the spot.

"What's going on? Ichika-san has turned into that."

"And what is that thing in Laura's IS?"

"Do we even have time to answer that?! Bodewig seems to stop him, but it won't be long now before he destroys the entire academy!" And Chifuyu was right.

"Buffalo Breath!" Ichika then release a toxic breath from it's internal organ into his mouth and spreading it to the whole arena.

Everyone was evacuated but the one who is inside the arena inhaled the breath and become intoxicated, mainly Houki, Charlotte and Laura.

After inhaling the Buffalo Breath, the imitation had her guard lowered and Ichika got this perfect opportunity by grabbing her and crushing her with his huge hands. Charlotte and Houki were unable to move from inhaling the breath alone and leads Laura as his only target to destroy.

'What is strength?' Laura's thoughts were just that after seeing Ichika's transformation.

"What...what is strength?" Laura asked Ichika despite the situation she's into.

"..." Ichika made no reply and sends Laura on the ground and pinning her. The missile on it's back which is regenerating is finally ready to fire. He aims at Laura and it's almost firing.

'What is strength?' It has been on Laura's mind.

"Ice Blast!" Charles came at the right time and was able to stop Ichika from destroying Laura.

Kanzashi gasped as Charles appeared.

"That's Seadramon!"

"S-Seadramon?" it was Maya's turn to reply.

A message appeared.

Seadramon

-Champion

-Data

An aquatic digimon with a long body like a snake. It wanders the sea and attacks enemies. It's not intelligent and beware of it's attacks.

"Ichika, snap out of it!"

Ichika has found another target, which is Charles and ignoring Laura.

"Quick, while Orimura is busy, retrieve those three to safety!" Chifuyu orders the teachers to get on there is and retrieved them.

The three people, Houki, Charlotte and Laura was saved and the imitation Chifuyu was disintegrated due to the pilot has become unconscious.

"We have to help stop him somehow..." As much as Chifuyu wanted to, It will cause risk to whoever comes close to Ichika.

'Dammit, is this the feeling of powerlessness Ichika has been through two years ago?!'

Ichika knocks down Charles into the water and unleashed it 's attack.

"Dark Shot!"

Charles immediately dives in to prevent from being hit by the powerful trajectory and was saved by his quick idea.

Then Dan appears from the top of the monorail, and so does the helicopters to capture the moments. The arena also able to see Dan.

"You better explain this Sarashiki." Chifuyu demanded, Charlotte and Houki seems to be awake.

Garurumon

-Champion

-Vaccine

A four-legged Beast Digimon that took the form of a white wolf. It's icy breath, claws and fangs can be used as weapons. It's fur is as tough as metal.

"Ichika!" Dan knows who the skeletal creature is despite not knowing what is it.

"That's Ichika-san?!" Ran was in disbelief.

"Hey, there's someone there in the water."

"Isn't that the rumored 'Guardian of the Sea'?"

Charles saw Dan on top of the monorail,

"You there, can you lend me a hand to stop Ichika?"

"You know him?"

"I'll explain later. Ice Blast!"

"Howling Blaster!" Both fire their attacks at Ichika but to no avail. Ichika knocks both of them easily.

"Ran, hang on!" Dan dives in and swims to safety.

Ichika's roars echoed the whole IS academy and the camera's from the helicopters that were recording the events were destroyed by his roar.

Then Ichika's body started to glow, he was reverted back. And finally he turned back into a Koromon. Charles and Dan were closing into Ichika.

At the observation room everyone felt relief knowing that Skullgreymon is now gone.

"I guess he ran out of energy." Kanzashi started running towards the scene despite it's very far.

"It's over.." A sigh from Chifuyu shows a relief.

Dan reverted back into Gabumon and saw Ichika.

"Ichika!"

"Ichika-san!" Ran grabs Ichika to her chest.

"Are you alright?"

"Yes, but...I think I did a wrong thing."

"Don't sweat it Ichika." Dan reassure him.

"Hm..?"

"We understand, I can see from your eyes alone that you're in rage." Charles continue reassuring him.

"But what happened Ichika-san?"

"I was fighting with someone, and that someone copy my sister!"

"Ichika-san, calm down!"

"Yeah, don't push yourself man."

"It could have been worse if we didn't stop you even for a second."

"I...thanks."

"Daww~, you're so cute Ichika-san." Ran holds Ichika close to her face.

"Ichika!" Kanzashi arrived at the spot and examines Ichika. "Ichika, are you alright?"

"I'm fine now, thanks."

"Phew, what a relief." As Kanzashi tries to get hold of Ichika, Ran pouted and said to her.

"NO, Ichika is mine to be pet."

"Oh Ran..."

"You must be Dan, a friend of Ichika. Ichika told me about you, my name is Charles and it is a great pleasure to meet you."

"Same thing, Gotanda Dan, nice to meet you too. I never thought me and Ichika are the only one."

Charles since he is revealed for the people to see him along with Dan and Ran stayed at the academy for a brief moment. And when they arrived at the main building, girls approached the group and was astonished.

"Is that 'The Guardian of the Sea'?"

"Hey, is that Ichika and his friend?"

It was filled with barrages of questions as they went inside the IS academy. Even Ichika's friends and the teachers wanted to know about this.

Next day

"Uu, ahh..."

The sunlight shone down on Laura, waking her up.

"Are you awake?"

She remembers this voice. She had heard it before-and not only that, Laura was able to deduce where she heard of it before. It was the instructor she so loved and respected, Orimura Chifuyu.

"What's...with me...?"

"Your entire body took too much burden, causing wounds and muscle fatigue. You can't move at the moment. Don't force yourself."

After finishing, Chifuyu wanted to change the topic, but Laura was still her past student, it wasn't easy to fool her.

"What...happened...?"

Laura barely managed to lift her upper body up. Her face twisted in agony due to the pain that spread throughout her entire body. However, her eyes were staring intently at Chifuyu. The eyepatch was taken off her left eye for surgery, and it was a golden eye that was different from the eye on her right. This mysterious eye was merely showing a puzzled look.

"Hoo...basically, this is both a major case and a top secret article."

Chifuyu takes a remote and turned the TV on near the infirmary. What it reveals was the yesterday's event, The Skullgreymon incident as people at the academy calls it. But due to Ichika's roar all of the cameras are destroyed in the process. Despite it only takes 15 minutes, that 15 minutes was devastating as the incident destroyed 1/3 of the whole IS academy.

Laura listened to the news in shock as the creature who almost took her life was heard. And beside that was a water serpent known as the 'Guardian of the Sea' and the white blue wolf with a girl on top of it.

"From the witnesses and spectators who have seen it, An incident occur in the IS academy yesterday where a giant skeleton creature wreak havoc on the academy, but a giant water serpent which known as the 'Guardian of the Sea' and a girl with a big white wolf put a stop into it. Details are unknown where and how did this incident started but it leads us that these creatures exists right in front of us and they live among us."

"Really now, this is gonna be interesting..."

However, Chifuyu knew that she wasn't someone who would give up after hearing such an answer, so after she remained silent to indicate that this can't be said to others, she began to speak,

"Do you know of the [VT system]?"

"I do...the actual name is [Valkyrie Trace System]...it records the systems of all the previous Mondo Grosso's Champions. I remember that's..."

"That's right. Right now, the research, and even the development, usage and all is banned under the IS treaty, and it was in your IS."

"..."

"It was hidden really well. The pilot's mental state, the damage the machine took, and most importantly, the pilot's will...no, the desire. It can only activate with all these conditions. Right now, the academy's questioning the German Army, and the committee members will most likely carry out an investigation."

On hearing Chifuyu's words, Laura grabbed tightly onto the bedsheets. For some reason, she looked down at the void below her eyes.

"That's because...I wished for this."

I wanted to be you.

Laura didn't say it, but Chifuyu understood.

"Laura Bodewig!"

"Ye-Yes!"

Having her full name called out, Laura looks up in surprise.

"Who are you?"

"I-I'm...I'm...m,..."

She can't continue on. Under this situation, she can't say that she's Laura.

"If you are no one, that's convenient. You will become Laura Bodewig from now on. Besides, there's a lot of time, since you have to stay here. After that, until you die, you still have a lot of time to use, so continue to be bothered, young lady."

"Ah..."

Chifuyu's words confound Laura. As she never expected Chifuyu to encourage her, she didn't know what to do. She didn't know how to answer, as she couldn't even say a single word.

Chifuyu got up from the chair and began to leave. She had said whatever she wanted to say, and was ready to head back to being in the position of a teacher.

"Oh, and also."

Chifuyu put her hand on the door, and without turning back, added on,

"You can't become me. Even if you become me, you cannot defeat my little brother."

"..." Laura was surprised what Chifuyu had said to her, then she remembers Skullgreymon.

The thought alone was enough for her to flinched.

"Hmph, you seem scared Laura Bodewig, for a soldier. Believe it or not, you and Skullgreymon are rather similar. Which brings to the question, what is strength to you?"

"I..." As much as she hated to be compared to Skullgreymon, she cannot object towards her instructor.

"It seems you can't even pick one answer, then I'll give you one. Strength is where you stand for and you must have a reason to have strength. His reason to get strong was that he would protect everyone he hold dear, but yesterday his reason was twisted into a form void from reasoning and continued fighting until the end."

And just like that, Chifuyu left and Laura has a new purpose in life, not as a soldier to kill, but a soldier to protect.

Class 1-1

"Um, sorry about yesterday you guys." Ichika was in front of the class.

"It's okay Ichika, we understand."

"Yeah, by the way, the Individual Divisional Tournament was canceled due to repairs."

Just then, Maya arrived and instruct Ichika to sit on his seat.

"O-Okay, as we all know regarding the yesterdays incident, the Individual Divisional Tournament was completely canceled due to Orimura-kun's rage. But in other news, we have confirmed the existence of the 'Guardian of the Sea' and the 'White Blue Wolf'."

"What's going to happened to my friends?" Ichika raised his hand.

"Oh, Orimura-kun. Your friends are given protection from the IS academy and their relatives and we have one of them transferred here right now."

As Maya said that, Dan appears in Ichika's class.

"Hey Dan, you're transferring here?"

"Yeah, the school recommended me personally. But at least I can still stick with you for a while."

"Gotanda-kun, introduce yourself." Maya said to him.

"Oh yeah, My name is Gotanda Dan and I'm in the same situation as Ichika. Hope you take care of me in this coming year."

He introduced to the other classmates.

"Well, he's certainly fluffy and soft to touch."

"Horray, we have another Digimon in our class."

"This class just got interesting."

"Hey, Isn't Charles going to transfer to?" Ichika asked.

"Charles?"

"The Seadramon that saved the IS academy yesterday."

"Oh yes, he would but he's too big for any classes."

Just as Maya finished, Laura entered the class.

"Ah, Laura-san, are you feeling better."

"Yes..."

"Ah, that's good, that's good."

Ichika

Laura seems to be doing better, but I'm not sure. Right now, Dan is now transferred in the IS academy and Both Dan and Charles are given protection from the IS academy.

Laura seems to approach me like the first time we met, but I don't feel any hostility from her, nothing at all.

"Ichika-sama, from now on I am your knight. I will be always be by your side and I will protect you from certain danger you shall face."

Okay, that was really unexpected. Why is Laura kneeling down like a knight, developed a new accent and did she just called me 'Ichika-sama'?

"Looks like you got yourself a knight, consider yourself lucky." Dan comments me on the sudden events that happened to me.

"Tell me about it." We both had a laugh about it.

"This is rather unexpected." Chifuyu-nee enters the class with a smile on her face.

"Teehee, A 'knight'. How cute~" What do you mean it's cute Charlotte?

Tabane's secret laboratory

At the most secretive location on earth, lies the wanted genius Shinonono Tabane, who invented the IS. She is abnormal from the other humans and acting rather strange for her age. Regardless, she is the genius but she's not the reason for the digimorphication of the three men.

Right now , she was just finished building something and it's just need some finishing touches to add the sparkles to things.

On the way, she did witness Ichika's transformation before Ichika's roar destroyed her cameras and hurt her ears at the same time.

'Hm, Ikkun seems to be growing. Mou, now I'm curious on how Ikkun's body works. And it seems Ikkun have some friends that is the same as he was. If only Ikkun didn't roar that time then I wouldn't have to suffered ear problems.'

A ring tone can be heard, Tabane picked up the phone and it was from Chifuyu.

"Hello, Hi hi? Every day!"

*Du* *Du*—the line's cut in both ways.

"Wah—wait wait!"

Maybe it was Tabane's wish coming through or some divine prank as the handphone rangs again

*Tulalatulalala~ *.

"Hello!—This is everyone's favorite idol Shinonono Tabane—wait wait! Chi-chan!"

"Don't you call me that."

"OK, Chi-chan!"

"Sigh, whatever. I have something to ask you anyway."

"What is it?"

"Is it related to you this time?"

"This time, this time—what are you talking about?"

Tabane tilts her head. She's not feigning ignorance; she really doesn't know.

"I'm talking about the [VT system]."

"Ah, that? Ohhoho, Chi-chan, do you think I created that crude amateurish thing? I'm the perfectly flawless Shinonono Tabane. Besides, it's meaningless to create such a thing that's not perfect."

"..."

"Speaking of which, as for that research lab, I erased it from the surface of the earth more than 2 hours ago...oh, though you may know, the death count is zero. It's as easy as breaking a child's hand—oh yeah, Chi-chan, is it hard to break one? Am I the only one thinking like this? Oh my, that's weird."

Ohohohoho, Tabane adds on a little laughter and smoothly brings this conversation to an end.

"Really? Sorry for disturbing you."

"No no, it's not a bother at all! As long as it's for Chi-chan, I'll service you a full 24 hours a day. I'm not a convenience store! But I'll gladly service you~"

"Alright, I'm hanging up then."

*BAM!* Chifuyu hung up the phone. It seemed like she wouldn't be calling back again. Tabane looked somewhat regretful as she again stared at the handphone, but 2 seconds later, she just threw it away without abandon.

"Oh my, Tabane's happy to hear a voice she hasn't heard in a long time! Chi-chan's still as amazing as ever, don't go running into the other side of the sunset."

Tabane folded her arms in front of her chest as she muttered, laughing away. Still Tabane can't help but being curious about Ichika and his friends.

Another ring tone can be heard and it's different from last time.

"Oh my oh my oh my! Long time no see! I've always—always been waiting for you~!"

"...Nee-san." It was Houki.

"Yes yes, I know why you called. You want it, right? The one and only machine that you want

— Houki-chan's personal machine. I did prepare it for you! It's the strongest and far surpasses all

other specs, and it's even a match for the yellow dinosaur thing. And the name of that machine is...

Akatsubaki!"

**There we go, I'll end this chapter right now. Ichika has finally digivolved into an Ultimate level, but not to normal expectations. Laura has become Ichika's knight, which makes some sense in this fic, Dan and Charles are now revealed in the public world and the first 4th generation IS will be introduced, Akatsubaki.**

**Next chapter will introduced Master Tyrannomon and its subordinates and teaches Ichika and his two friends on how to explore digivolutions.**

**And for opinion sake, during the Silver Gospel event, should Ichika digivolve into Virus Metalgreymon or Vaccine Metalgreymon?**

**Anyways, hope this chapter is worth while to read. Laters.**


	9. Arrival of a teacher: MasterTyrannomon

Disclaimers: Infinite Stratos and Digimon do not belong to me.

Story so far: Ichika fought alongside Charlotte against Laura and Houki during the Individual Division Tournament. After witnessing the strange phenomenon happening to Laura's IS, he flew into a rage and Dark Digivolved into Skullgreymon and caused destruction in the academy. Dan and Charles stops Ichika's rage and thus revealing themselves to the public, and they are placed in the IS academy for protection.

Ichika's room, morning, Ichika

"Ahh...what a lovely morning as usual." As if it was morning, the sun has not up yet, for the past two days it's been nerve wrecking. I somehow digivolved into Skullgreymon during the Individual Divisional Tournament and destroyed 1/3 of the whole academy. And it's been yesterday since Laura Bodewig declared herself as my 'Knight' which makes little sense to me.

As I went off my bed, I noticed a lump and it's not one of my pillows. I removed the blanket that covers it and it revealed the 'Knight', Laura.

"LA-LAURA!"

She was wearing a soldier uniform with concealed weapon in the bits of her clothes. And she has been sleeping here, in my bed without me noticing. I thought I locked the doors.

"Ah, is it morning already?" Laura said as she rubbed her eyes.

"If that's what you called morning." Laura took a glance at the digital clock nearby, it was 5 AM.

"Ichika-sama, do you wake up early in the morning daily?"

"I don't see the reason why not to, besides this is when I start my day everyday."

"Oh I see..."

"To be honest, you look like a soldier even when the first time when you transferred to this acadeny.."

Laura Bodewig, just as she was transferred here around weeks ago was very hostile to me, but after that incident Laura changed and she has become my 'knight', which I would actually see her as a soldier rather than knight. And she just slept with me without me noticing. At least she's not naked, because it will be hard to explain if someone finds out.

I suppose it's time for my daily jogging. I got up off bed and went to the door.

"Ichika-sama, where are you going?"

"Huh, do what I always do, jog around the IS academy."

"If you don't mind if I would accompany you to your daily activities."

"...I suppose you're up now, I don't mind."

During my daily jog, Laura seems intrigued at the surrounding around her.

"The dawn here is very interesting, it is very different from my home country."

"..."

So Laura is a soldier from what I can tell, but how long she has been a soldier in the first place.

"So, how long have you been as a soldier?"

"...I have been a soldier in my whole life, I was born in a metal tube and was raised as a soldier as soon as I was born."

"..."

"And from what I've heard from Sarashiki, you used to be a human. When did this happened?"

"It was during that incident..." I told only some specific details and hid some of the truth, like I saw a bright light and it turned me into this.

"I see...you and I have suffered some hardship..."

"What do you mean?" As I asked her that, she filled in some details of her life.

"So the introduction of the IS actually deteriorated your life and position in the military? I would actually never expected that. Let me see this Odin's Eye of yours." Laura takes off her eye patch and revealed a golden eye which set a contrast of her other crimson colored eye.

"So this eye enhanced your body to cooperate better with the IS, whether you wanted to hide it with that eye patch is up to you."

"Ichika-sama, you are strong.."

"Hm? Maybe for you, but for me, I'm still have a lot to go."

"But Ichika-sama, I wanted to ask you this, what is your reason to become strong?"

"For me, either I would use my strength to protect the ones I care, or I would destroy everything without any obstacle to stop me." Laura seemed confused by my reason.

"But why either...?"

"I believe that incident during the Individual Divisional Tournament might explain that...You see Laura, when I'm enraged and digivolved into Skullgreymon, my reasons for strength changed. When I became Skullgreymon, I only wished to fight and nothing else, even if I'm dead I still have the urge to fight. I probably sound like an old man am I?"

"..."

"Laura...?"

"It's nothing...let us continue." Laura regained her composure after hearing my statement.

We eventually went to Charles' area, which was near the shore of the IS academy. After the event that exposed him along with Dan, there are signs in the area near the shore. A big huge shadow lurk in the water wandering around, Charles seems to be up as well.

"Hey Charles, I know you're up!"

As in response, Charles showed himself by surfacing himself out of the water.

"Good almost morning Ichika."

"Almost morning to you Charles." Charles pays his attention to Laura after greeting me.

"I see another girl is accompanying you."

" I am Laura Bodewig, a knight in service for Ichika-sama."

"Cute..." In an instant Charles said that, Laura's face becomes red.

"..."

"Hahaha~, maybe I still have it in me."

The sun has become visible, and morning has started.

"I suppose this is the time when we're suppose to say good morning isn't it?"

"Well, I guess it's time for you to go to class isn't it?" Charles said to me.

"..."

Well after my rage, some of the facilities of the IS academy were off limits due to repairs. So it might be some schedule change in the meanwhile. I went back to my room to freshen up, and Laura seems to follow me whenever I go for some reason.

"Ah Ichika-sama, I'm going for a shower, may I allowed to use your shower?"

"..."

"..."

"OK, I suppose." I gave her my approval and Laura gets into the shower and sound of clothes shedding can be heard. What am I going to do with her...

"I'm done."

It was around fifteen minutes later that Laura was done showering and she's completely naked. The water still dripping on her body and she still standing there looking at me. Probably forgot her towel, which on a side note is that even possible?

"...I'll go get the spare towel."

After giving her the spare towel I asked her why is she doing here and she said to me,

"It is a knight's job to be by their master's side, and I'm fulfilling it."

"Okay...Does anyone know that you're sleeping with me by the way?"

"...Er..." Laura went silent for some reason.

"...No." I put my hands into my face in response. Great, just great. If someone finds this out, I have to explain everything.

"..." Laura went silent again.

"Please tell me that you have a spare clothing or any form of clothing at all."

"I...no." This is bad, Laura hasn't brought any clothing at all.

"Wear that last uniform, it's better than nothing."

Laura puts back on the soldier uniform that she slept with me and went to the cafeteria with me for breakfast, though it is still early.

As we arrived at the cafeteria which was safe from the rampage, we picked up our orders and begin to dig in. But as I begin to devour my meal, Laura seems to struggle. She looks at her meal intently and next to her tray of food was a chopstick.

"..."

"What, you're not hungry?"

"That's not the problem, it's just I have no idea how to use the chopstick. Can you show me how?"

"Laura, I have claws for hands. I don't think I can teach you how to use the chopstick. Just grab a spoon and fork if you know how to use them, and please put on a proper uniform, you're attracting unwanted attention."

The other students are looking at us, rather Laura because she's still wearing that uniform. Laura gives a salute before leaving to her room.

"Can do Ichika-sama. I shall proceed with changing my attire."

"I'll get the spoon and fork..." sigh, such troublesome girl.

After she went back to her room and change into her IS uniform, she digs in her meal with the spoon and fork I get from the cafeteria. By the way, I already finished my meal and I don't know why but I'm actually waiting for Laura to finish her meal.

It was just a very casual day for me when I went to my class, when Chifuyu-nee came and announce something.

"We'll be having an ordinary lesson today. Though all of you are IS Academy students, you are all still High School students. Don't fail!"

Hm, High School. Something that's missing from my mind, ever since I turned into a Digimon two years ago I barely go to school for a lot of reasons. And Dan is no different, we were treated as monsters back then that we were not allowed in school.

"And Orimura, Gotanda, this would be the time to follow out what have you've been missing."

""Yes Orimura-sensei.""

"Also, from next week onwards, it will be the special school trip practical lesson time. Everyone is reminded not to forget your items. We will be leaving school for 3 days, so remember not to play too much during your free time."

A special trip huh? I did heard this from yesterday when Charlotte was submitting pamphlets of it. For 3 days, and Chifuyu-nee mentioned 'not too play too much'. I wonder where we'll be going? If I recall well, we're going to the seaside but not exactly where...

Then, that'll be the end of SHR. Everyone's to study seriously today."

"Excuse me, Orimura-sensei. Is Yamada-sensei on leave?"

The good student in class, Tagatsuki Shizune-san raised an obvious question. Now that she mention it, where is Yamada-sensei?

"Yamada-sensei went ahead to check the place for our field trip, so she won't be here today. Thus, I'm taking over Yamada-sensei's duties for today."

"Huuh, Yama-chan went to the seaside already? That's so cool~!"

"That's sneaky! She should have brought me along!"

"Ah-is she swimming? She must be swimming-!"

As expected of the girls in their teenage years. Once there's something, they can make a ruckus out of it. Chifuyu-nee found it irritating since she continued on.

"Ahh, stop making a big commotion out of everything, it's irritating! Yamada-sensei went to work, not to play!"

_Yes-_ the girls in class answered in unison. Such amazing teamwork.

After class in the brink of sunset, Charlotte stayed at the classroom for some reason. I along with Laura approached her and asked her why she stayed in the classroom...with a broom.

"Oh, it's...a light punishment."

"What happened?"

"I was about to be late for class, and I deploy my IS and made it on time-"

"And Chifuyu-nee found out..."

"Yes..."

"Ichika-sama, should we be on our way?" Laura seem uninterested.

*Giggle*-Charlotte is giggling for some reason.

"...Oh nothing." Charlotte seems to be denying something as she sweeps the floor.

"Well...I should go."

"OK, see ya." Charlotte replied as she continues sweeping the floor.

'Sigh, even if I wanted to asked those two to help me, Orimura-sensei will added my punishment if I do.' Charlotte seems depressed, probably don't like it very much.

"May I ask of where are we going?" Laura asked me as we went to the faculty office.

"Laura, if you're going to stay at my room, you have to give approval and reason for that so it will be valid for you to sleep with me."

"I see...Speaking of which, where is your other friend?"

"Dan? He probably got chased by girls and fulfilling his dream harem.."

I arrived at Chifuyu-nee's office and told her the situation I'm into currently.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"So, you want to stay with Orimura?"

"I am, so that I can be by his side."

"...OK, just give me a moment to arrange some things."

Chifuyu-nee puts some documents on the table and asked Laura to fill in the forms.

"From now on, you are now officially roommate with Orimura. Just don't cause too much havoc."

"I will instructor." Laura replied as she saluted to Chifuyu-nee. "I will start packing my bags now, see you then Ichika-sama."

"..." The door closes as Laura left.

"...Ichika, are you feeling alright?" A question from Chifuyu-nee, very unexpected especially in a rather soft tone.

"In a way, yes. Though I'm still fog headed from the rampage."

"...You've caused a lot of trouble Ichika, Your rage destroyed 1/3 of the academy, but thankfully you've managed to stop the [VT System], sort of."

"[VT System]?"

"You saw it right in front of you, you were enraged by her copying me, am I right?"

"Yes..."

"Just don't let your dark emotions get into you, or that event will repeat itself understand?"

"Yes..."

I left her office after finishing talking to her and went into my room. As I arrived at my room, Laura was already there with her things, which compose with firearms and other military related items.

"Uh...too much packing?"

"This is the least I can bring."

Really now?

Sunday

Ah, a lovely Sunday, too bad I can't spend my Sunday outside due to my special circumstances. Houki, Cecilia, Rin and Charlotte are nowhere to be found in the academy so my guess they are outside buying something. Sigh, and that leaves me and beside me as always Laura Bodewig.

"Ichika-sama, if you're wondering where they went, they went to the shopping mall outside of the academy to buy some swimsuits. I don't understand, the academy already provided the school swimsuit for the special school trip and yet they buy the ones from a shopping mall. Is there something about swimsuits that I am missing on?"

"Well...you could say that." It seems Laura is socially awkward.

"Hm..." Laura picked up a cell phone and called someone. I can hear the person on the other line as I was near to the phone.

[Ah Lieutenant Bodewig, can I help you with something?]

"I want to ask you about a certain topic."

[Go on...]

"Er..." Laura looks at me nervously.

"It's about swimsuits, isn't it Laura..." I tried to guess, and Laura's face just gotten red.

[Hm, I swear I've heard a male voice, is there someone with you?]

"Uh, it's Ichika-sama.."

[Ichika-sama? Oh you mean Instructor Orimura's younger brother.]

"It's about swimsuits..."

[Ah swimsuits eh? Well, If you would like to put it, there are many kinds of swimsuits that anyone can choose from. From one-piece, two-piece, G-strings, leaf bikini, Venus bikini, sarongs, and two of the most daring bikinis, the micro bikini and...] Laura's eye widened and I can't believe the person on the other line knows that many types of bikinis.

[A loincloth.] Our faces dropped, well not literally.

"I-I understand now, thank you very much."

[No problem, if you need some advice just call me.]

Beep—the phone call ended.

"..."

"..."

"Oh crap, Kanzashi wanted to see me in the arena." I headed to my next destination, which is in the surviving arena.

"...You're late Ichika." Kanzashi waited as she was tapping her toes, and alongside her was Dan.

"Hey Ichika."

"Hey Dan."

"Next, I want you to explore your next level of digivolution."

"Wait, didn't I digivolved into Skullgreymon, which you said is an ultimate level two days ago?"

"Yes, but that was your other digivolution, what I'm referring is that you have to digivolve into your true ultimate form. Besides, you have no control of that digivolution."

"..."

"..."

"..." The silence between us four started for a few seconds.

"Anyways, let's start training." Kanzashi gives us the sign to start digivolving.

[Agumon digivolve! Greymon!]

[Gabumon digivolve! Garurumon!]

As we were about to face off against each other into a match. I felt something strange, it was rather a hunch that something is going to happen right after this. But I continued on to spar against Dan with Laura and Kanzashi observing the fight.

Out of the sea, Charles joined into the arena and greets us.

"Afternoon guys."

"Afternoon Charles, say you want to spar with us?"

"Would I not too? Ice Blast!"

We dodged Charles' Ice Blast and counterattack him with our own attacks.

"Mega Flame!"

"Howling Blaster!"

In the middle of our spar, stomp can be heard from a distance. We stopped as we heard the footstep coming closer.

Laura and Kanzashi seemed to noticed it too and yet the source is yet detected.

Shopping Mall, Normal

It was that time that the students from the IS academy can be seen everywhere and the teachers are no exceptions. Since the special school trip will be happening around tomorrow, the least they can do to prepare the special trip is to buy swimsuits.

Cecilia, Rin, Charlotte and Houki can be seen in a swimsuit shop trying to find a swimsuit suitable for them. And the teachers of class 1-1 can also bee seen browsing different types of swimsuit of their choosing.

"Yamada, if you were Ichika, which one would you pick?" Chifuyu showed her colleague two swimsuits, one was a white swimsuit that does not reveal much to chastise her figure. The other one was a very revealing swimsuit that anyone that saw her will drool.

Maya is having a hard time to decide which swimsuit to choose from.

'Um..the white one or the black one, if I were her brother I would advise her not to wear the black bikini and wear the white bikini instead for modesty. But the black one makes her figure stand out thus revealing her sex appeal. Hm...'

Without much of her full conscious,

"T-The black one!" Maya just shut her mouth after saying that.

"Hm, I suppose you have a good choice Yamada. This black one is rather impressive." Chifuyu picks the black bikini and paid it to the cashier.

"Let's go Yamada."

"Y-Yes."

'Why did I recommended the black bikini in the first place?'

As they still on the shopping mall with the other students, they've heard a footstep and it was making little tremors every time the footsteps have gotten nearer.

"What was that, it could have not been an earthquake."

The people on the mall started to become restless.

"What's going on?" The student nearby asked both teachers.

"I don't know..."

IS academy

Coming from the less dense part of town near a mountain region, a huge black dinosaur Digimon appears to be headed to the IS academy. The said Digimon was MasterTyrannomon, an ancient fighter in a region where time flows slowly and said to be legendary. And right now his huge body can be seen by the public and yet he didn't bother noticed the reaction from the people living there.

"So that is where the troubled one resides, from my source of information coming from my subordinates, it is called the IS Academy."

He slowly makes his way towards the academy before stopping on a water path that was blocking his way. Fortunately for him, it was not long enough to be an obstacle for him. He made a leap to the IS academy where he makes an unexpected welcome to the academy.

Stomp—the footstep he made from the leap made a huge sound.

"Huh, what was that?" The trio was getting restless and saw the huge black dinosaur.

"What in the world, is it attacking us?"

"No, it does not even make any sudden moves." Laura analyzed the huge black dinosaur.

"Kanzashi, what is that?"

"I think that Digimon is..."

MasterTyrannomon

-Ultimate

-Vaccine

-A powerful Ultimate Dinosaur Digimon which were nicknamed of "Tyranno Teacher". It is a Tyrannomon that successfully fought fierce battles and said to gained the title Master with enough amount of battles. It also teaches it's pupil Tyrannnomons.

"An Ultimate Digimon?"

"You must be the troubled one, Orimura Ichika correct?"

"Hm..."

"I am Master Tyranno, a teacher that you might have seek. I came all the way from my home region to this place just to find you or in this case, your friends. You seem to be troubled with your digivolutions correct, my subordinates can find information I needed."

As he said that, a giant bird whose body is made in a black flames, but it's not as Big as Master Tyranno.

"Scout Saberdramon reporting, it is I who found out about you and your problems and send the information to Master."

Saberdramon

-Champion

-Vaccine

-A Giant Bird Digimon whose body possesses black fire like feathers. It is a Digimon who uses it's black body to scout undetected at nightfall. It is a variant of Birdramon and may considered as a sub-species of it.

"By the looks of you, you obtained information about me during nighttime in the night sky."

"Correct, a sharp student we have here."

"What do you want from me?"

"You? You're not the only one who needs training, you two should train yourselves outside the border you reside in. You three will train in my region where time is more than you spent on."

"What makes you think that we're letting ourselves to stay at your place to train?!" Dan argued.

"Besides, do we really necessary need training?" Charles added.

"Very well, if you three can defeat me in a battle right now, you don't have to come with me for special training sessions along with my subordinates."

"Well then, bring it on!"

"Wait!" Laura interferes and face the Master Tyranno along with the trio Digimons.

"Let me accompany them in the fight." Laura deploys her [Schwarzer Regen] and prepares to fight Mastertyranno as well.

"Another challenger rose up to battle against me? Very well, I will not hold back." Mastertyranno prepares his stance.

"Have at you!" MasterTyranno attacks the nearest target which was Ichika.

"Mega Flame!" The giant fireball was canceled by MasterTyranno's claw attack and got countered.

"Master Claw!"

"Gwwah!" Ichika was knocked down in almost an instant.

"Ichika!" Dan reaches MasterTyranno with his agility and tries to strike at his opponent.

"Howling Blaster!" But Mastertyranno gets a hold of Dan in midair and slam him on the ground, knocking him out.

"Master Claw!"

"Ice Blast!" Charles tries to avenge his injured friends.

"Master Fire!" MasterTyranno unleashed a big stream of flames coming from it's mouth.

The flames was powerful that it cancels out the Ice Blast and engulfs Charles with it. Charles was knocked out by the blast from the fire.

For Laura, it happened so quickly, MasterTyranno has just knocked down all three Digimons in an instant. It's just left with her to face him.

"Master Fire!" He spit a big fireball from his mouth. Luckily Laura was able to stop it using her AIC.

"Impressive, but let's see if you can stop this. Hyper Heat Blast!" Mastertyranno's body glows in an unearthly light and there's great heat present from the glow of light.

This time, Laura cannot use her AIC at all as the direction of the force was from everywhere acting all at once.

"Gyaa!" Laura's IS disappears and was left half conscious.

"..Such power.." From the Hyper Heat Blast, the arena was destroyed.

"You youngsters are just all talk and no action, I barely broke up a sweat. So you want to become stronger, then you know who you want to look for."

"Ugh..."

"I'll wait for you four to recover, then you'll follow me to my region." MasterTyranno stay at the academy arena for the boys to recover along with Laura.

"Scout Saberdramon, you can return to the region."

"Yes Master." And just like that, Saberdramon flew away.

As Chifuyu and Maya went to the academy, they noticed MasterTyranno in the arena that was destroyed recently.

"What is going on here?" Chifuyu asked to Kanzashi and in return Kanzashi explained what has happened.

"So this 'Teacher' appeared out of nowhere, and tries to train the boys in his region."

"..."

"..."

"I believe it might be interesting, very well then. You three may join him for training purposes only understood?" Chifuyu asked.

"""Yes!"""

"Excuse me, may I also participate this training?" Laura raises her hand.

"Well young lady, I've never trained with a human before. But I suppose as long as they have the desire to train oneself to the next level." MasterTyranno replied.

"As for the location, come with me." MasterTyranno ordered the four of them in his way.

On the way to the said region, a team IS units which probably belong to the government blocked their path.

"Halt! What in the world are you, and you girl there what is your business with these monsters?!"

"These are allies, and we're are on a training session with MasterTyranno."

"MasterTyranno?"

"If you excuse me, I must return to my region to train my new students." As MasterTyranno said his word, he pass the IS units along with his new students.

"Wait, where are you going?" MasterTyranno ignored their words and disappears along with his new students to the mountains, where a dimensional rift takes them into another region.

"They're gone..."

"How's that even possible?"

Ancient Dino Region, afternoon

In the new region, Ichika and the others were surprised by the settings. It was an ancient place where the plants were the ones they see in the museum in their region. In fact, it feels that they travel back in time but in closer inspection, they saw some modern convenience like vending machines and toilet stalls.

"Well this is rather...interesting."

"I can't believe a place like this exist beneath our world."

"Amazing, how is this even possible?"

"The atmosphere is different from the ones we've been living."

"Welcome to the Ancient Dino Region. This is a region where you have plenty of time, so you would use this time to train yourselves or fight with my subordinates as a sparring practice. Now if you excuse me, I must arrange a welcoming party for the four of you in accordance to our hospitality and you will start your training afterward."

MasterTyranno left as he said that, and all the other Digimons looks at the newly welcome group.

"Hey would you look at that, a human. A human girl has entered this place, is she going to be okay?"

"If MasterTyranno would take her to this place, then that means that she's willing to train under MasterTyranno."

The residence of the region consists of Dinosaur Digimons. And the resources looks like more then plenty for the whole residence. And one of them approached them, as if he was giving them a welcoming greeting.

"Welcome, I am Monochromon and I am a merchant in this region, if you want to buy something, then come to me. If you excuse me, I must help preparing for your welcoming party, see ya." The monochome rhino-like dinosaur with a big tusk left in a hurry.

"...He looks like he's in a hurry." Ichika point's out.

"No matter, Ichika-sama let us tour in this new region."

"You got that right Laura, I'm already excited just to be here." Dan agreed to Laura's suggestion.

The four toured the newly explored region and met with some of the residence of the region. One of them a huge Brachiosaurus Digimon whose bigger than MasterTyranno himself. He extended his long neck down to greet them.

"Welcome visitors from another region. I, Brachiomon, am a sage in this region and governs the water side of the region. You may already knew this, but time is slow in this region. Half a day is passed here instead of one, so for those who want to rest it's perfect here." Brachiomon extend up his neck and continues to eat the plants up in a tall ancient tree.

After hearing the new information, the group get together to discuss.

"Time is slow here?"

"Half a day is passed here instead of one?"

"Could it be we've been here half the time were expected?"

"It probably makes sense, this is quite a prehistoric time right?"

"MasterTyranno wasn't kidding that we're gonna have plenty of time here, literally."

Brachiomon interrupts their conversation.

"Oh yes, now if you excuse me, I must be preparing for the feast for you four so you better attend the party. I must gather ingredients for the meal to make the dishes."

Brachiomon left into waterside to find some ingredients. After traveling deep into the region, they met up with Saberdramon.

"Hey you made it, and the human girl is accompanying you? Not that I would discriminate against her. So you guys are excited for the party? I know I would. I've already picked up some the ingredients needed for the party but I might help out the others for the party so don't miss it. Scout Saberdramon out." Saberdramon flew off without any worries.

As they explore the region, all the residence are busy preparing for the welcoming party for them. And it was not before long, a red Tyrannosaurus Digimon which is smaller than MasterTyranno appear and called out the group of four.

"Visitors from another region, I, Tyrannomon, ordered by my master act as your escort to your next destination. Come with me, the party has started."

"Really, that was fast."

"It is only a small feast and everyone here worked together to establish this welcoming party. Now let's not waste time, even there is plenty of time here."

Tyrannomon escorted the four into a section of the region where all the residence gathered. It was time the welcoming party has started. MasterTyranno announce the start of the party.

"We have gathered here in a small feast in welcome of the new students who came from a foreign region. A toast to the new students and make them feel welcome!"

The residents let out a roar and Ichika, Dan and Charles followed in their own tone and Laura was kept quiet.

"Now let us commence our feast!" MasterTyranno declared and the feasting begin.

The assortment of food provided in the region gives a new taste to the four visitors and they seemed to like it, including Laura. For Laura, there were no utensils she can use, she looks at her hands and tries to use her hands instead to eat.

'Interesting, so this is how it feels like to eat with your hands...'

"My new students, after this you will be introduced to my students and they will help you along the way. So please attend my training as much as possible if you want to be stronger, and call me Master in this region."

""""Yes Master!"""" All four of them replied.

Meanwhile in the IS academy

"That's funny, where's Ichika-san?" Cecilia was the first to noticed after she got back from her shopping.

In the hallway from her dorm, Cecilia can't help but being curious. Rin who was near her was just as curious.

"Beats me, I checked his room and no one's there, Dan's also missing."

"..."

"Could it be that-"

"That what?"

"Never mind, it's nothing."

As they went into the cafeteria, they met up with Houki and Charlotte who was sitting on the same table.

"Have you two seen Ichika? he's nowhere to be found." Cecilia asked.

"We can't find him in the academy, but I doubt he would go outside and show himself to the public." Houki replied.

'Damn, where are you Ichika? What about the promise?'

"Charles and Dan are missing too." Rin spoke.

"Hm...hold on where's Laura?" Charlotte realize that her roommate is also missing.

"Weird, where could they be?" Cecilia was rather dumbfounded until a news flash occurred.

[This just in, a very huge black dinosaur, a huge but smaller yellow dinosaur with a helmet, the white blue wolf and the guardian of the sea along with a silvered-haired IS student went to the mountain side and disappeared in a blink of an eye. The IS units that was dispatch were baffled by this and were to retire for the rest of the day.]

The article continues...

"So where exactly is this mountain region?"

"Don't know, especially if they would disappeared just like that."

"What are they doing anyway?"

"Better ask Kanzashi, she maybe knew about this."

The four girls nodded in agreement as Kanzashi was known to be knowledgeable regarding Ichika and his friends.

As they were questioning Kanzashi, who was in her room. She was surprised by her visitors unexpected visit.

"At least a knock on the door would be nice."

"Never mind that, where are they going? Don't they know they have a special trip tomorrow?!" Cecilia's outburst let Kanzashi a surprised.

"How am I suppose to know, MasterTyranno appeared out of nowhere and sends them to his region, and Orimura-sensei gave him an approval."

"MasterTyranno...So that is his name. And Orimura-sensei just let him go and take them!?" Rin's turn to ask.

"She said it was OK."

The four girls sighed in disappointment as they can't show their swimsuit to Ichika.

'Our chance...ruined.'

**Well that's it for this chapter. Ichika and the other three won't be at the special trip hotel but they will show up during either the beach scene or the training session before the appearance of the IS [Silver Gospel]. And I'm not sure about Tabane's entrance though as Ichika will be absent in the hotel along with the three people with him(Dan, Charles and Laura).**

**Next chapter will be almost the same as episode 9, sort of. So expect the next chapter to be 'soft' and probably MasterTyranno and his subordinates along with Ichika and the group will join the school group during the beach scene.**

**Infinite Sisters next chapter is almost complete after much ignorance from concentrating on the Knight of Solitude and this chapter and hopefully be complete by tomorrow or two if I have internet connection of course.**

**Until then, see ya later.**


	10. Crossed: A meeting on the seaside

**Disclaimers: Infinite Stratos and Digimon belongs to their respective owners.**

**Story so far: Ichika and Laura are officially roommates, much to Ichika's unawareness. Then Ichika, Dan, Charles and Laura have come to a place unfamiliar to them in a training session with MasterTyranno and his subordinates.**

Ichika

Training here can be brutal here, the other students besides us four are tough as we are or tougher. But Master allowed us to rest for an hour if we were tired and right now we four are on a rest. By the way, Laura trained with us with her IS [Schwarzer Regen] and her IS suffered some damage after fighting the students.

Somehow during the training, we were asked to retain to our champion forms as part of the training as well, basically I'm still Greymon, Dan is still Garurumon and Charles is still...Charles the Seadramon.

The other students that we have fought against are in the same level as we are but there are some that are higher level than us which is an Ultimate level but there have been categorized as senior fighters, while we champion levels are the junior fighters.

The junior fighters besides us are Tyrannomon, Monochromon, Airdramon, Saberdramon and Yanmamon.

While the senior fighters are Vermillimon, Brachiomon and Triceramon.

We can't really fight the senior level fighters because Master won't allow us until we have reached Ultimate level.

"Phew, what a day."

"Literally, we ended up training for a full three hours twice, although resting time is more than enough."

"I never had that much training since battling out through the currents of the seas."

"Training here is just as much as training from instructor herself."

"But this time, we have plenty of time for training."

Just as we talk about things in here, Master arrived and approached us.

"Ah, students of the human world. I seemed to have recalled that the IS academy are planning a seaside trip yes?"

"..Yeah."

"Since today's training is over, I would propose to go to the seaside in your world to explore along with the other students."

"What for?"

"Think of it as another part of the training, and also a seaside environment will be a new experience for the other students."

"Where do we go exactly Master?"

"Teacher Orimura Chifuyu mentioned the location of the seaside they would stayed in temporarily, so that's where we all go, starting tomorrow."

"Is that really okay?"

"Do not worry, this place has been isolated for a long time, no intruder would find a way to get here. Now get some rest, we'll be starting to depart tomorrow morning, so meet up with the other students before then tomorrow."

""""Yes Master!""""

"Good, the other students are looking forward to explore the seaside."

Next morning, Normal

It was a peaceful morning in the Ancient Dino Region, as the four newly arrived students woke up from their peaceful slumber.

"Hm...morning. I suppose me must meet up with the other students." Ichika said.

"Let's go." Dan replied.

The four went and meet up with the other students.

"Hey, you're just in time." Tyrannomon looks at the four.

"Master has something to say about the upcoming training." Monochromon added.

"Speaking of which, here he comes."

As Saberdramon said that, MasterTyranno arrived with an announcement.

"Students, it is have been confirmed that we will held our training in a human seaside area."

"The human world?"

"On a seaside?"

The students were bustling with activity.

"Quiet, we will held our training there. For those who are unfamiliar with the area must be cautious, or refer to the new students."

The other students are looking at the four new students.

"This will be a new experience for those who are unfamiliar, and the training regime will be also different so follow as much as you can while exploring the human world."

"YES MASTER!" The whole students replied.

"Good, now let's get going!"

Meanwhile

"I can see the sea!"

As the bus went through the tunnel, the girls in the class shouted out.

The weather was clear as it is the first day of seaside school. The girls are excited about the seaside school.

Though some girls were disappointed that the boys are not coming to this seaside school, although they don't show much concern for Laura, mainly Houki, Cecilia, Charlotte and Rin.

"Hm..."

"I wonder where Ichika and the others went to?"

"Well, Orimura-sensei said that they are on a special training somewhere."

"The news said that they disappeared into the mountain region, that's rather strange."

"..."

"That MasterTyranno, how come he was allowed by Orimura-sensei to train those four anyways, I could train them better than him!" Rin boasted.

"Hm, you must be mistaken because I, Cecilia Alcott am a better trainer than you and him." Cecilia countered.

"Hey you two, MasterTyranno beat four of them without a sweat yesterday. I saw it with my own eyes you know. You cannot beat him." Kanzashi argued.

The two stopped and sit on their seats and kept quiet, they both know Kanzashi was the main witness during the battle and she would not lie about it.

"We're about to reach our destination, Everyone sit down."

Everyone obeyed Chifuyu's orders, and sure enough they have reached their destination.

"Then, this is the Kagetsu resort. From onwards, we will be in their care for 3 days, so everyone is to be more respectful and and let not the staff's work increased."

"Thanks for taking care of us."

In this first day, the students are allowed to take it easy and the meals are provided at the resort's restaurant. The resort was wide and can fit the number of students, but that only excluded the 'normal' students of course.

"Um Orimura-sensei, is it really a good idea to send the boys to train with him?" Maya asked as they were at their room.

"Why not, they do need that special training and he needs that training anyways."

"Oh, you mean that incident.."

"Do I need to say it Yamada...?"

"N-no need Orimura-sensei."

"..."

"..."

Meanwhile at Ichika's side

The students, both junior and senior and the teacher arrived at the seaside for their training. They've used an alternate exit unlike last time when MasterTyranno entered unexpectedly in the IS academy.

"So this is what the human world looks like."

"It's different from our world."

"And the atmosphere is different also."

The students stopped at their tracks as MasterTyranno made an announcement.

"Students, we will be training here for today. First, familiarize the area first before we initiate our training, if anyone has a question refer to the new students there."

""YES MASTER!"

"In the human world, time passes very quickly so make yourself adjustable to this environment and we will start training within two hours. And juniors, do not wander off too far."

After the announcement, MasterTyranno watches over the area and keep an eye on his students. Saberdramon scouted the area from the air and saw the resort the IS academy students resided in. And the other students are doing their own task before training.

Ichika, Dan, Charles and Laura looks around the area on their own.

"Ah, somehow I've always wanted to go to the seaside again." Ichika(Greymon) stretches out for a warm up for later training.

"So how long was it since your last visit on the seaside?" Dan(Garurumon) was jogging in places.

"Mmmm, probably before I become this."

"Of course you do haha~."

"The sea, is refreshing here for some reason." Charles(Seadramon) dive in into the water.

"Somehow, every body of water is different."

"I wonder how that feels..." Laura seems to be wondering.

Laura saw the resort from afar, the resort that Saberdramon just saw.

"Hey guys look, I saw a resort on the other side of the seaside." Saberdramon descent down and tells the others.

"A resort? It must be the new student's friends." MasterTyranno replied.

Speaking of resort...

Back at the resort

Houki was rather down when Ichika did not come along for the trip. Along the way, she saw a mechanical rabbit ears, and it even has the note 'please pull me'.

"..."

Houki, knowing who it was decided to ignore the rabbit ears and continued to her individual task.

After that, Cecilia also noticed the rabbit ears briefly stops and thinks about if she should pull the rabbit ears.

'Rabbit ears, should I pull it or not?' She approached the rabbit ears and start pulling it.

And when she succeeded pulling the rabbit ears, nothing was underneath the rabbit ears.

"What in the world is this?"

**KIIIIIINN—**An unidentified object flying down at supersonic speed crashed down and nearly hits Cecilia.

And it looks like a carrot, not the organic carrot people would found in a grocery store though.

The carrot splits itself into half and what is inside the carrot surprises Cecilia. The most wanted person in the world, the creator of the IS herself Shinonono Tabane appeared right in front of her.

"Hm, where is Houki-chan? I thought she was here moments ago. Oh well, at least I can detect her using my Houki-chan detector." She took the rabbit ears from Cecilia's hand and run off somewhere without even noticing her.

"Is that...Professor Shinonono herself?!"

Of course as much as Cecilia would be surprised she does not have that time to be surprised for long time and suggested to go to the beach. It will be a waste if she doesn't wear the swimsuit she had bought.

The students are as just as excited as going to the beach, wearing their swimsuit they have just bought. Comments about each others swimsuits can be heard in the changing room.

"WAH, MIKA! YOUR BREASTS ARE BIG!? YOU'RE STILL IN PUBERTY, RIGHT~?"

"KYAH! DON'T-DON'T GRAB THEM!"

"MENA'S SWIMSUIT'S RATHER BOLD. AMAZING~"

"REALLY? THIS IS COMMON IN AMERICA."

On the beach near the resort

The girls of the IS academy, specifically all the first years are enjoying themselves at the beach doing various activities.

In the summer heat in July, it is no wonder that the girls are enjoying their time on the beach, but another group are also on the beach but with a different purpose.

In one group, they just want to have fun in the sun as they will never get this opportunity very often, the other would pursuit their limits of their endurance and exploring the unfamiliar world, save for the few of them.

And on the other side, which was Ichika's side, the training regime for today has begun.

"Alright, first thing in mind. A trial of stamina for the juniors. Juniors, place your position to the starting line!" MasterTyranno commanded.

Ichika, Dan, Charles, Laura and the other juniors goes to the starting line and takes their position.

"Your training for today is to travel 500m back and forth as many rounds as you can. Then I can measure who needs more work, and do not push yourselves too hard. This is not a race, but try to go as fast as you can, I made a checkpoint in case if you're wondering. Now onto your positions!"

"YES MASTER!"

"On your mark..."

The juniors are in their firm position.

"Get set..."

The aura around them can be detected by their determination.

"..."

"..."

"GO!"

Meanwhile on the other side...

"Hey, let's go play volleyball~!"

"Yeah, where's the volleyball?"

"Who's gonna be in one team?"

As the girls discuss about the volleyball topic, the teachers Chifuyu and Maya arrived at the beach with their bikini's showing to the students.

"Wah, Orimura-sensei is pretty bold~."

"Maya-sensei seems to be good also."

Cecilia, Rin and Charlotte also has their reference to their swimsuit, but when they saw Chifuyu's swimsuit, they are rather impressed. Although no one had noticed it, Houki is nowhere to be found.

As the activities go by, mostly volleyball and other individual tasks, one student noticed a rather long line in the sand. It also has the word 'check' there written near the line.

"..."

"Ah, Shizune-san." One student called to her, which Shizune was the one noticed the line.

"Ah Cecilia-san."

"What is this line here for?"

"I don't know, I just happened to noticed it just now."

"'Check', what does that mean?"

"Probably someone marking it as a course."

"Probably there's a lot of people involved here if the line would be stretched like this."

"Hm..."

Then Rin and Charlotte noticed the two and approached them,

"Hey guys.."

"Um, what is this line?" Charlotte asked.

"Probably someone planning a marathon and decided to practice here." Rin assumes.

"I wonder who would make a line this size?"

Back at the volleyball section, the girls are all teamed up on both sides, at one side Maya joined and the other side Chifuyu decided to take one for the team.

"Alright, I'll go first." As the first serve comes in, tremors started to appear.

"Wha-!" some of the girls lost their balance and fall of. A stampede will come and they only have seconds to realize that.

"W-what's going on?"

"Earthquake, here on the beach?"

While the students panicking around, also which taken note their breasts jiggle every time they made large movements, the teachers are less panicked especially Chifuyu.

"Um Orimura-sensei, is this tremor really an earthquake?"

"...No. It's not an earthquake. Everyone please remain calm!" As she said that, the students stopped at their tracks, while the tremors are getting intense.

Despite the increasing intensity of the tremor, the students somehow remain calm and looks at the 'check' line where the source is most likely to be there.

And their hunch was correct, at the point behind the 'check' line, a group of digimons running around the beach, and Dan is on the lead.

"I see the check point!"

"Where?!" Ichika asked.

"There!"

"Ichika-sama, is that them?"

"I believe so..."

"Checkpoint!" Dan said and turns around and runs back to the starting point. Although Dan slide through the sandy line, causing sand waves pouring into the nearby girls.

Saberdramon who was flying has the urge to tell MasterTyranno about the current situation, Charles ended up still in water during the whole course and somehow manage to see the 'check' line.

The rest are rather baffled by the sight of the girls but they decided to continue.

"Hey, wait up!"

Once all of them reached the starting point, Saberdramon explained everything to MasterTyranno.

"...I see. So our training regime might affect their time at the seaside. I must investigate this, you may follow me if you want."

"But isn't that our new students friends?"

"By my recognition from yesterday...yes."

"So it should be safe yes?"

"Maybe..."

"We'll come with you master."

"Suit yourselves.."

MasterTyranno appeared in front of the IS students and the students were astonished by his sheer size. His enormous body size is enough to block the sunlight.

"Is that the huge black dinosaur from the news...?"

"I think it is."

"That's MasterTyranno?!"

"From the news he is very big, but seeing him in front of my eyes is something else altogether..."

Rin and Cecilia said as they gaze upon his huge size. Charlotte seems to be doing the same and also the other students.

Houki, while not being seen by others also noticed MasterTyranno from a cliff.

'So that is MasterTyranno...'

"Greetings students of the IS academy, I am MasterTyranno. I apologized if the training regime I planned for my students disturbed your time."

"Hmph, I never expected to be here MasterTyranno..." Chifuyu greets him.

"Indeed, I also did not expect to see you again." MasterTyranno replied.

The students from both sides are seeing each other for quite a while.

Ichika approached his sister and always by his side Laura Bodewig who was wearing the IS academy uniform but it is rather stained dirty after the training she has undergo with her 'master' Ichika and his friends.

"C-Chifuyu-nee, I didn't expect you would go for a swim."

"Call me Orimura-sensei."

"..."

Laura upon seeing her beloved instructor who was wearing a sexy bikini was blushing upon looking at her idol for a few seconds.

"Um, Instructor is looking very sexy in that swimsuit I had to admit. Isn't that right Ichika-sama?"

"Y-yeah."

'So this is what it meant by breaking the line of erotism.'

"Although I don't really like to accept compliments, I'll make it an exception this time so thank you. Yamada picked it for me personally."

"I-It's not what it's look like Orimura-kun I swear!"

"OK...?"

"So are we resuming our training Master?"

"Oh definitely, but we need a change of plan not to disturb them in their activities as much as possible."

"How Master?" The red dinosaur Tyrannomon asked.

"In a form of a spar, each fighter will chose their opponent and battle in the seaside. You can do this individually or in a form of a tag team battle."

"I decided to fight in a tag team battle, I will team up with Monochromon! We will fight against Greymon and Garurumon!" Tyrannomon declared.

"You wanna battle with us?" Ichika asked.

"I have been looking forward to fight the digimon who has ever fought an IS beside my master."

"If that's the case, Dan you're up for this?"

"I'm ready when you are, let's do this."

"On my command, let this battle commence!" MasterTyranno commanded.

The fighters charges in towards each other and a close combat was initiated. The spectators, which are the students of the IS academy and Ichika and Dan's classmate are enjoying the battle regardless who's winning and who's losing.

"Wow, I'm surprised Ichika has significantly improved in a short time." Charlotte commented.

"Actually, we have plenty of time training back there." Laura answered Charlotte, even though that wasn't a question.

"Uh..OK. By the way, where were you training yesterday?"

"I...can't really explain it."

"Laura, your uniform is all dirty!"

"I...I didn't bring some spare clothing during training..."

"Well you need to freshen up young lady, how do you represent to your 'master' in this condition?" Somehow Charlotte emphasize the word 'master' in her sentence.

"I..."

"We'll do it later Laura...in the meantime please remove the uniform. It is rather hot in here."

"I suppose I should comply for now."

Laura took off the top part off her IS academy uniform, or at least unbuttoned her IS academy uniform and let it slide to the bottom part of the uniform and her sleeveless under shirt can be seen underneath the uniform.

"Ah you are right Charlotte, it is rather a relief when I took off a portion of my clothing. Can I have something to drink?"

Charlotte gives a cool drink to Laura and Laura immediately gulped the drink through the straw Charlotte gave her after she gave the drink in one go.

"L-Laura?!"

"Yes..."

"Please slow down..."

"..."

By the time the battle ended, which resulted in a draw the sun is setting into the ocean where the beautiful sunset would fascinates MasterTyranno's students and the orange sky produced by the sunset clearly is as beautiful.

Ichika somehow after hours spending his time on the beach,

'Strange, I can't find Houki anywhere...'

"Ichika-sama, is there something bothering you?"

"...You could say that..Houki is nowhere to be found."

"You mean the long ponytail girl?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Laura~"

Just then Charlotte came and trying to take Laura to the resort.

"Yes Charlotte?"

"You're going to a bath and you're needing a bath right now!"

"It seems I am in need to take a bath after all..Farewell for now Ichika-sama."

"Uh yeah, good luck with that."

In the resort public bath that evening, a lot of girls would go in there and wash out their fatigue after the activities they have done during the afternoon. The public baths are filled with girls as it is expected because of the girls from the IS academy. And there Laura and Charlotte also wash up their fatigue along with the other girls.

"Ah, it feels so good~" Charlotte commented.

"I agree, I felt much better just bathing in this hot bath."

"So Laura...How's your time with Ichika..."

"Well...we have been training together with MasterTyranno..."

"...I see..."

"..."

"What's it like being there?"

"Well, the place has a different feeling there, I can't really explain it."

"Laura, how's your duty as a 'knight'?"

"I can't really describe it in words Charlotte, it feels that I am honored that I'm to be by his side."

"By the way, do you know about the schedule for tomorrow?"

"Is it IS training?"

"Yup."

"I've heard that you've stayed at Ichika's room recently, is that true? Everyone's heard of it just yesterday."

"Yes, instructor said that I should not cause havoc while I became Ichika-sama's roommate."

The conversation continues as the two are still in the bath along with the other students until it is time for dinner for the students of the IS academy.

During dinner, every 1st years get together in a banquet hall and everyone was wearing yukatas while eating and it seems to be the rules within the resort.

The food was full of taste, it is unlike the ones they have eaten normally in the IS academy. And for Laura, it is a change of pace as she along with Ichika and his friends eats at the Ancient Dino Region quite differently.

Back at the region, it was a feast for all of the residence, including the new students. And they use their hands, claws and in a few case talons to eat their food. The wilderness in that area makes that food is almost everywhere. For Laura, it gives off a different vibe compare to what she eats in currently.

After finishing the meal, Laura stood up and left the resort.

Charlotte, Cecilia, Rin, Kanzashi and Houki noticed about Laura decided to follow her. But before they do, Chifuyu spotted the five but not Laura as she somehow went outside into the beach earlier.

"Hey you, where do you think you guys going huh?"

""O-Orimura-sensei?"

"You know you can't go out at this time of the night."

"But Orimura-sensei-" As they were talking about Laura, Chifuyu cuts them off.

"But nothing, now get into your rooms when you're done eating!"

As the five girls went into their own respective rooms, Chifuyu asks them,

"Oh before that, I want you five to be in my room first. You do know where my room is don't you?"

All five girls nodded.

"Good, see you then."

The girls are rather confused of to why she would asks them to go to her room in a few minutes, but chooses to comply.

Meanwhile Laura arrived at the beach where the students held their activities just this afternoon and found that all the Digimons sleeping peacefully on the beach including MasterTyranno. Laura looks around and found Ichika, who is sleeping as peacefully as the others around the beach.

The beach at this time of the night was quite a serene location. The gentle waves can be heard and the gentle breeze can be felt. Laura somehow after finishing her dinner, changes back into the dirty IS academy uniform she wore from yesterday as she wouldn't really want to stain the yukata the resort provided. Besides, for Laura her uniform gives her comfort.

She approaches Ichika whom is still Greymon and climbs onto his head with the support form his helmet. There Laura lies down on Ichika's head and closes her eyes. On a side note, Dan is still Garurumon the whole day along with Ichika as part of the training.

'Ichika-sama, I will stay with you and I will be always by your side. I will see how strong you will become by my side. As your 'knight', I will see your progress.'

Laura after having much thought on her mind, she slowly falls asleep on Ichika's head.

Later at Chifuyu's room

The five girls are anxious as Chifuyu was in front of them. They are sitting right in front of her so they can't really hide themselves from her.

"So do you know why I called you here?" Chifuyu asks them.

The girls shook their heads. Chifuyu opened a fridge that was on her room and grabbed a can of beer. Once she gets the hold of the beer, she gulped it one shot.

"..."

"..."

"So..what do you see in him?"

"...?"

"Come on now, after a few months you must have something in mind about him."

This person in front of them now is completely different from the lawful and ridiculously strict 'Orimura-sensei', causing the girls to be dumbstruck. If Laura would have seen this, she will be the most shocked.

"Stop giving me that weird look! I'm an ordinary person, of course I would drink beer! Do I look like I drink machine oil?"

"No, no, it's not that..."

"It's not..."

"But, right now..."

"Aren't you working now..."

"Nah, doesn't matter. Now answer my question, what do you see in him?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"No answer...?"

"He's rather...uh...gentle." Kanzashi answered.

"He's a monster..." Houki was next to answer.

"I know Shinonono, don't state the obvious.."

"But he's still the same, sort of..." Houki replied.

"He doesn't really remember much about the past." It was Rin's turn to answer.

"And you would just take advantage of that?"

"N-No, not at all! He needs to remember about his past and I'm going to do just that." Rin retorted, but Houki knew better and probably Chifuyu as well.

"As the class representative, I just want him to buck up."

Completely different in attitude now, Cecilia boasted proudly.

"Says the one who begged for mercy when you lost to him for the first time during the class representative match."

"W-wha?!"

"Shall I reenact the scene for all of you how she cried when she lost to him?"

"N-no, there's no need."

Kanzashi chuckled.

"Well, he's rather 'unique'."

"..."

"..."

"Well, no matter what your opinion about him is, He's still my little brother, or 'big' brother if you consider some...factors to some things."

"..."

"But I know what type of girl he would like to go out with. So? Do you want to know?"

"Are you going to tell us?"

"Idiots, you really think I would?"

Ehhh~...the girls moaned in their hearts.

"As women how can you lack will when fighting for a 'guy'? Work harder, brats!"

Chifuyu then looks upon the window to her room. The window provides a good view of the beach that the 1st years went and had fun this afternoon.

"...?" And Chifuyu spotted something and the girls noticed the change of Chifuyu's face.

"Hmph, a 'knight' that always on by her 'master's' side, how amusing."

Heard of what Chifuyu said,

"W-What's going on?"

"Look by the windows yourselves."

And the five girls does look at the windows and what they widened their eyes as what have they saw. Aside from the other Digimons, they saw Laura Bodewig slept there with the dirty uniform she wore since yesterday, and she slept on Ichika's head. She looked like a baby slept with her mother, sort of.

"L-Laura...?!"

"Hey, how come she can get outside while we can't?!"

"Because she wasn't planned to be here, so she came here along with them unexpectedly. Therefore, there is no room for her."

"You're just saying that."

"What if I am?"

"..." The girls can't really questioned Chifuyu any further than that.

"When she said she was going to be by his side, she wasn't kidding..." Chifuyu reminiscence about the moment that Laura 'made a vow' in front of Ichika during that time at the start of class and imitates what Laura had said that time.

"Ichika-sama, from now on I am your knight. I will be always be by your side and I will protect you from certain danger you shall face."

And somehow, Charlotte plays along.

"Teehee, A 'knight'. How cute~"

Rin who was rather confused as she didn't witness that moment on that day. But all five girls are filled with envy as Laura somehow able to sleep with or in this case on Ichika just because she was his 'knight' and they can't because of the rules established by the teacher.

"Don't even bother going out and sleep with him, you might dirtying the yukatas if you're going to the beach."

'Laura Bodewig, we will remember this.' The girls are having the same thought.

**Well this chapter has come to an end. And the next chapter will be the coming of the [Silver Gospel] event and the introduction of the first 4th generation IS [Akatsubaki].**

**During the [Silver Gospel] battle, Ichika will be excluded for the time being from the battle for obvious reasons, but he will fight the [Silver Gospel] later on next chapter, or at least preparing for battle as MetalGreymon(Vaccine) where he finally has his wings.**

**But of course I will not leave Ichika to reach until MetalGreymon only just like that after the [Silver Gospel] battle. I will try to make Ichika go further to WarGreymon or even higher and that means continuations to the story whether through the light novel with some changes or something original altogether. And I might also add RiseGreymon on the way then to ShineGreymon or VictoryGreymon.**

**As for the pairings, Laura SEEMS to be on the lead because of her role as his 'knight' but will it escalate further and the other girls might have a chance also because of their own factors.**

**Until then, Hope you have an enjoyable read and I hope this chapter ain't that bad and I'm also hoping I would have the time to make the next chapter and updating them, see ya later.**


	11. Red, blue and silver lines: MetalGreymon

Disclaimers: Infinite Stratos and Digimon do not belong to me.

Ichika

…...

…..

…

Ugh...

...Where am I...?

…..Is this a dream...?

I can tell I'm on a beach, but it's not the beach that I have been yesterday. It was peaceful, serene, there was no one there but me. I'm currently in my Greymon form and I went for a stroll for a while. There was no one here, no sign of other lifeforms...

"Orimura Ichika..."

….?

"Orimura Ichika..."

I heard someone called my name twice, and it was a woman's voice. I turned around to look for the voice, yet no one is here beside me or anywhere for that matter.

"Greymon..."

…..!

"Greymon..."

It was the same voice, this time she called my current form's name. I looked around again, and somehow appeared unexpectedly was a knight carrying a claymore, rather a female knight judging by the shape of the figure. She was far away from me and her silhouette is only half visible.

"Silver...Gospel..."

Silver Gospel, what does she mean by that? I approached her slowly, and she seemed to hold her position.

"The Silver Gospel...will come..."

What does she mean by that?

"Do your best to protect..."

Protect, who, what, why, how?

"Now, you must go...and protect.."

What is she talking about?

"Who are you!"

"..." No respond from her.

"I said who are you!"

"..."

Who is she?! How does she know about me? Is this a dream? Am I still dreaming? Is this knight in front of me is just a dream?

"Till we meet again..."

Huh, wait what?!

"Hey-!"

By the time she said her last word, she vanished. Who was that?

Slowly, the place starting to drift apart and the whole place went black...

"Ugh..."

I opened my eyes, and I'm back at the beach where I spent my training yesterday. So it was a dream...

But somehow, I can't dismiss it just a dream for some reason.

And somehow when I opened my eyes, it was already morning. Morning?! I must have overslept!

I got up and yawned as the morning sun in the beach hits my eyes, not directly of course.

"Mmmm..."

Hm, what was that?

"Mmmmm..ahhh~" That voice, Laura, but where is she? Her voice was very clear so where is she?

I look up and saw her waking up on my head. Looks like she's been sleeping on me, again.

"Mmmm...Good morning Ichika-sama..."

"U-uh, morning Laura."

Even though I have been overslept, looks like everyone is still sleeping. Maybe I'm just overreacting. On the side note, it's probably because the time here compare to the Ancient Dino Region goes fast.

There after a few minutes after I wake up, Chifuyu-nee came and she puts on her usual uniform where she had been used to train the IS practicals on the seaside.

"Morning Chifuyu-nee..."

"I'm teaching here, so call me Orimura-sensei."

"Yes, Orimura-sensei."

"Morning instructor.."

"I see you're up Bodewig, How's sleeping on his head feels like?"

"I felt like I'm right beside him.."

"..."

"..."

"How's your IS Bodewig?"

"Um..it suffered quite a lot of damage during training two days ago..."

"I see, I will check it's conditions then." Laura gives her IS to Chifuyu-nee so that she can inspect it.

"Good morning Orimura-sensei."

"Yamada-sensei just in time, I would like you to check the condition for [Schwarzer Regen]." Chifuyu-nee said as she gave her the IS to her.

"Hm, it is been taking a lot of hits...The report should be taking for a couple of minutes."

After some analysis, Yamada-sensei gives the report to Chifuyu-nee and she looks intently at the record.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Your IS suffered significant damage, and it will take hours to quick repair it. So you can't really participate in IS training for quite a while, at least for today..."

"Is that so instructor..."

"Orimura, this is the second day of the special trip and I would like you and your...friends to help me and the staff with the IS as soon as they get up."

"But, are you sure you want THEM to handle this, they don't know anything about the IS. Besides, me and them are going back there to resume our training today."

"Hmph, then you'll just help with carrying the IS just this time, then you can resume your training."

"Can I come with Ichika-sama?"

"Yes...If you can answer this question."

"...!"

"Explain the IS core network."

"O-Okay! The IS core network uses all sorts of signals to exchange data. It was originally designed to send the location information in vast space. Right now, it allows the pilots to communicate with each other through public and private channels. Also, through recent researches, the core attracts all sorts of signals through a 'sharing' method as fuel to evolve. As the creator Professor Shinonono viewed these as a part of evolution, she allowed them to develop continuously, so right now, they're still under development, resulting in an incomplete grasp of the whole picture."

"I see you haven't abandoned your studies, then again it's only been a day. Bodewig, you're allowed to trained with Orimura along with them."

"Thank you instructor."

"How many do you want them to help with the IS?"

"Only a few would suffice."

Just then, the other Digimons woke up and I immediately asked them about volunteering with some little manual work.

"Alright, I might as well think of it as a warm up."

"Ooh, I wanna help."

"Count me in, I don't think it will be that bad."

After that manual labor work, with the volunteers aside from me, Master gives us an order,

"Students, we will depart back to our region in an hour so be prepared!"

"YES MASTER!" All of us Digimons replied.

After around half an hour, the IS training started. It was suppose to be testing out various IS equipment and data collection. The students are already in their IS suit, which somehow fits to the surrounding.

"Alright. Each class is to carry their stuff to begin the IS part testing. Those with personal suits are to test the personal parts. Everyone, move fast."

All the students say yes as they hear Chifuyu-nee's command and lined up in a straight line. And the IS is also assembled for the students to use, of course that doesn't really apply much for the personal IS. Me and Laura are not really participating this kind of training for obvious reasons. Mine is that I don't even pilot an IS, while Laura's IS is in the process of repairs.

"Ah, Shinonono, come over here."

"Yes."

Houki, who was using the [Uchigane] to carry something, heard Chifuyu-nee call her and walks towards her.

"From today onwards, you'll be pilo-"

Suddenly, I sense someone is coming and it's coming fast.

"CHHHHHIIIIIII~CHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNN ~!"

*Zudodododododododo...!* As a cloud of sand and dust gathered, a figure came flying over at a very fast speed. Maybe she has an IS on her? Though the problem's that person-

"...Tabane."

That's how it is. That peerless genius Shinonono Tabane just ignored the restriction of the zone completely and came barging in just like that. Speaking of which, why am I along with the other Digimons still allowed here? Maybe they didn't expect us here.

"Yaa Yaa! I really missed you Chi-chan! Let's hug to show our love-fuheh!"

Chifuyu-nee held down Tabane-san who came flying over with one hand, grabbing onto her face too as the fingers sank mercilessly into the flesh. Chifuyu-nee really doesn't know how to show mercy.

"Shut up, Tabane."

"Mmmn...your iron claw's as merciless as ever."

Actually, she's amazing for being able to clamp down Tabane-san like that.

After shouting out lightly, Tabane-san now turns to Houki.

"Yaa!"

"...Hello." Houki seems unenthusiastic for some reason.

"Hehehe, long time no see. How long have we not met? A few years? Houki-chan's really grown up, especially the breasts~"

*GANK!*

"I'll beat you up!"

"You've already beaten me up...and with a Japanese sword sheath! That's too mean! Houki-chan's soo mean~!"

Pressing her head, Tabane-san looked teary eyed as she complained. Everyone present just looked at that exchange.

"Huh, well, well, people other than the ones involved are not-"

"Hmm? What you're saying is really weird. If you're talking about IS related personnel, I'm the

most most important person now."

"Huh, ah, so, yeah, so, I guess that's right..."

Yamada-sensei got shot down beautifully. Basically, there's nothing anyone can do as they just let her on a roll. Speaking of which aren't I am NOT an IS related personnel?

"Ichika-sama, is this person-"

"Shinonono Tabane, the most wanted human girl in this time of the world, she's known for her creation of the IS and also well known in our region!" Saberdramon interrupts.

"Yes Laura, this person here is THE Shinonono Tabane, one of the weirdest person I have ever met."

"I see, so this is Shinonono Tabane in person...interesting."

"Hey! Tabane! Introduce yourself, my students don't know what's going on."

"Huh-that's so troublesome...hello, I'm the genius Tabane-san! That's all from me!"

After saying that, she even made a spin around. At this moment, everyone present seem to finally realize that this is the genius scientist who developed the IS, and the girls started to chat.

"Haa...can't you even introduce yourself properly? Hey, first-years, why are you stopping? Ignore this person here and continue testing."

"That's too much, calling me 'this person'. Can't you call me 'my beloved Tabane'?"

"SHUT UP!"

While both of them are exchanging words, Yamada-sensei trembles as she interrupts them.

"Huh, erm, what should I do in this situation..."

"Ah, like I just said, you can ignore this person here. Yamada-sensei, please help assist the classes."

"I-I got it."

"Uu, Chi-chan's so kind...this Tabane-san really feels envious. She got fooled by this huge breasted monster, right~?"

After saying that, Tabane-san leaped onto Yamada-sensei as her hands quickly grabbed onto her ample breasts.

"KYAAAAHHH! WH-WHA-WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

"Sigh, what's the problem, what's the problem~?"

Wa, the topic just changed within a few seconds...where in the world did her jealousy go to? Then again this is Tabane, the weirdest perseon I have met so far.

On a side note, Tabane-san's breasts are slightly bigger than Chifuyu-nee's and about the same size as Yamada-sensei. Actually, it's kind of an eye candy to see two huge-breasted women harrass each other. But never mind about that, if I would count all of us, some of us Digimons are actually having bigger uh...breasts than any of these women.

"SHUT IT YOU IDIOT! IF WE'RE TALKING ABOUT BREASTS, AREN'T YOURS BIG ENOUGH? IF YOU REALLY WANT TO MEASURING BREASTS, GO CHECK THEIRS, THEY PROBABLY HAD THE BIGGEST BREASTS IN THIS GROUP!" Chifuyu-nee points at the group of Digimons including me.

"Hehehe, Chi-chan's so lewd. And besides, they don't count."

"GO TO HELL! ORIMURA, INCINERATE HER WITH MEGA FLAME!"

"Ara ara Ikkun, you don't have to incinerate me, I don't even need to be incinerated, I'm just as sweet as I am now." OK that was very confusing.

"So what about the thing I requested from you...?"

Houki sounded somewhat hesitant as she asked that. On hearing that, Tabane-san's eyes lit up.

"Fufufu, I prepared that already. Here, behold the great sky!"

Tabane-san pointed up at the sky. On hearing her say that, Houki and the other students looked up at the sky.

*ZUUUNNN!*

"WAHHH!"

Suddenly, really suddenly, with the sound of an impact, an unidentified metallic object dropped onto the sand.

The silvery metal block looked like it's a wall for a moment as it's front part falls down. Then we see the contents inside. What's inside is-

-A brand new IS in a crimson red color.

"Ta daa~! This is Houki-chan's personal IS [Akatsubaki]! It's spec are superior to every IS in every way and was personally made from Tabane-san!"

Superior?

The red armor was reflecting the bright sunlight, probably because it's a new IS. It's really eyecatching. Huh?Did Tabane-san just mention something unbelievable? The specs are all superior to the current ISes. In other words, it's the newest and strongest frame!

"Here, Houki-chan, it's now time for the optimization! I'll help out from aside, so it'll end soon "

"...I'll leave it to you then."

"That's so rare~. We're blood siblings. You should talk to me in a more affectionate manner-"

"Hurry up and start."

Is this what they mean by 'playing alone'? Houki ignored Tabane-san completely and prompted her to move.

"Mn~ well, that's true. Let's get started then."

*Pi*-Tabane-san pressed the remote control, and [Akatsubaki] activated, opening the cockpit to allow the pilot to enter. It even kneeled down automatically to let the pilot enter it easily. Ohh,

that's rather amazing.

"I've input Houki-chan's data to a certain level. Now I just need to update the recent values! Then,

*pi, pa, pa *!"

Tabane-san opened a control panel and slided her fingers on it. She then summoned out 6 screens in mid-air to navigate through the huge amount of data on the screen, and typed out on the emulated keyboard in mid-air.

"It's a close-ranged suit that's adjusted to being an all-around type, so I guess you will get used to it soon! Not to mention there's automatic support equipment! Onee-chan prepared them all!"

"Oh, thanks."

Houki still sounded rather cold. Really, since you two are sisters, I think you should warm up to her more.

I'm not too sure of this myself, but Houki seems to hate Tabane-san because she had to transfer schools when Tabane-san introduced the IS.

But that was a long, long time ago. She should let go of it now, right?

"Mn~fu, fu, fufu~ Houki-chan's kendo skills are even more refined. I can tell from your trained muscles. Yaa Yaa, onee-chan's really proud of you."

"..."

"Hehe, I got ignored-okay, optimization is complete~ that was fast, as expected of me."

Spouting nonsense, Tabane-san never stopped typing. It resembles someone playing the piano more than typing a keyboard, fast and fluid, and she even went through all the pages that switched around.

"That IS is to be given to Shinonono-san...? Because they're family?"

"Yeah, it feels a bit unscrupulous."

Voices like these can be heard from the crowd. Unexpectedly, the one who quickly squashed all these reactions was actually Tabane-san.

"Oh my, haven't all of you read history? This world has never been fair."

The girls who were called out immediately went back to work. As for Tabane-san, she just left it that as she continued the adjustments, or rather, she never stopped typing even though she was talking. She's really a genius, of course in terms of IS.

Then, the adjustments were complete, and Tabane-san closed the screens.

"After that, it'll just be adjustments, and the personalization will be complete. Ah, Ii-kun, this Tabane-san's really enthustiastic. I want to study about you again!"

Tabane said as just like with [Akatsubaki], many screens appeared right in front of her just now and same with Akatsubaki some sort of data appeared, and it's all about me.

[Orimura Ichika]

[In-training: Koromon]

[Rookie: Agumon]

[Champion: Greymon, GeoGreymon]

[Ultimate: SkullGreymon]

All that status, in all of my currently learned form are in detail, and there's even diagrams of all of my forms, even SkullGreymon which is rather surprising.

"Ara ara, Ikkun you keep on growing, just like IS, you're gaining a lot after so many battles. This Tabane-san is impressed. Although, I'm quite worried about your Ultimate level."

I think she refers to SkullGreymon. Ever since that incident, I've been trained myself mentally to keep my rage from reaching too far and Dark Digivolving into SkullGreymon.

"Hmm, Should Tabane-san help you with your anger management?"

"Huh, what's with that all of a sudden?"

"Hm, Never mind, Ikkun will be fine."

Weird, why would Tabane asked me that? As she was about to continue studying me, a girl approached Tabane-san.

"Ex-Excuse me! I heard of Professor Shinonono before. If possible, could you please check my IS?"

It's Cecilia. Most likely, she felt excited about seeing the famous Tabane-san in front of her as her eyes are glowing exceptionally. However, I have a bad outcome after this-

"Ah? Who are you? I don't recognize some blond person. And right now, it's a touching reunion with Houki-chan, Chi-chan and Ii-kun after so many years. I don't know why are you interrupting me. Who are you anyway?"

Her tone suddenly got cold, the content, the eyes and even the tone got cold.

"Huh, that..."

"Shut up and move aside."

"Uu..."

After being rejected again, even Cecilia backed away while looking completely distraught. She got rejected without even having the chance to be shocked by the sudden change in Tabane-san's attitude as her eyes got teary. That's gotta hurt..

"Tabane-san..."

"Yes Ikkun~?"

Her cold attitude somehow changed back into that cheerful happy go lucky personality, and Cecilia continued to be surprised, for the third or was it the fourth time.

"You've improved."

"Aha, Tabane-san did, didn't I?"

"Um, Ichika-sama just what are you referring to here?"

"Oh, Tabane-san would just ignore people in the past as if they don't exist, and now she actually speaks with other people. Although Tabane-san did give a cold response towards Cecilia, she did respond to her, so that is consider an improvement."

"I see..."

"Hoo-weird blond hair. I hate the thick skin of the Japanese. Japanese are the best~ but I don't care about Japanese either way except for Houki-chan, Chi-chan and Ii-kun."

"I still count as a Japanese?"

"Of course Ikkun, you were born here."

"..."

"Ah-ahem."

Houki coughed twice to interrupt our conversation.

"Am I done here?"

"Mn, it's done. Oh, 3 minutes over. Ahh, I could have used the time to cook a cup of instant noodles. Too bad."

Hm, does instant noodles really take 3 minutes to prepare? On a side note, I never had instant noodles in all my life.

"Students, we are leaving!" Master ordered us all all the other prepares and ready to leave the seaside.

"Ah Chifuyu-nee, I'm leaving to continue our training."

"Hm, very well then."

"Eh, Is Ikkun going somewhere?"

"Yeah, I'm training along with the students there."

"Hey wait, what about Laura?" Charlotte speaks up.

"Oh, her IS is in no condition for this training so she will stay with Orimura for the time being."

The rest of the girls are feeling rather disappointed for some reason and it's not just the Personal IS pilots that I am sensing from.

'Laura Bodewig, you just got lucky twice..'

'I should have been his 'knight'.'

Hm, I can't really understand what are they thinking, but I would presume that they are not enjoying their training one bit.

Normal

After Ichika left with the group of Digimons, the IS training continues and somehow Tabane still here for some reason. Of course, this is only for the sake of [Akatsubaki].

"Uh, I thought Ikkun would stay for Akatsubaki's debut, but oh well."

"Then try taking it for a ride. Fly it a bit! It should follow Houki-chan's thoughts~"

"Okay, I'll try it."

*Phoosh phoosh!* With that sound, the cables linking to it were removed. After that, Houki closed her eyes, and [Akatsubaki] flew off at a really fast speed.

"WAH!"

The sudden acceleration caused shockwaves that made the sand dance about. Anyone who is very close to the proximity of the area, covers themselves as the sand blew towards them.

"How is it? Much more mobile than what Houki-chan expected?"

"Mn...yeah, sort of..."

Tabane communicated Houki through a public channel.

"Try swinging your swords. The right one is [Amatsuki], and the left one is [Karaware]. I'm going to send the special data of the weapons over!"

After saying that, Tabane-san danced her finger at the sky. Having received the weapon data, Houki drew both swords with a swoosh.

"Let's add on Tabane-onee-chan's explanation~ ! [Amatsuki]'s used to attack one person. The blade will create an energy blade attack when it attacks. It can turn an enemy into a beehive if it's used consecutively! It's a wonderful weapon~ the range is about as far as an assault rifle, no? It can't reach the range of a sniper rifle, but it's balanced out by the speed of [Akatsubaki]."

Houki swing the said blade. She raised her right hand to her left shoulder into the Shinonono-nitoryu kendo style the shield-sword style. That's a position that can easily turn defense into attack, using the force of the attack to counter.

As the blade got swung out, the surrounding space let out several red lasers, forming a ball shaped

thing. They then formed bullets of light and pierced out several holes in the clouds in the air.

"The next one's [Karaware]. It's a weapon used to deal with a group, and can launch a shaped attack with the slash! It can extend its range when it's swung, so it's super useful. Try hitting some of them here!"

After saying that, Tabane-san summoned a 16-missile pod firing machine. As the lights gathered and formed it, it shot out it's missiles at that instant.

Houki swung the [Karaware], that was tucked under her right armpit, one round. The red lasers extended out just like Tabane said, taking out all 16 missiles.

"Powerful..."

Gradually appearing from the smoke of the explosion, Houki and her red IS looked as imposing as ever.

Everyone present looked stunned and mesmerized by the overwhelming outcome in front of them, unable to say anything. Tabane seemed satisfied as she viewed the scene in front of her, nodding away.

"..."

However, only one person's staring at Tabane sternly.

That person is-

Orimura Chifuyu. As if there was something bad is going to happen...and it did.

"O-ORIMURA-SENSEI!"

Yamada Maya looked frantic than usual and seemed to be worried about something.

"What's wrong?"

"Pl-Plea-Please look at this."

On seeing the visual image Maya passed over, Chifuyu's face darkened.

"Class A special mission, and a request to deal with it immediately..."

"Th-That's...located at the Hawaiian research-"

"Shh! Don't leak confidential information. The students will hear it."

"So-Sorry..."

"The pilot of the personal IS?"

"One-One's missing. The rest are present."

"I-I'll contact the other teachers then."

"Got it-EVERYONE PAY ATTENTION!"

After Maya ran away, Chifuyu clapped twice to gain everyone's attention.

"The IS Academy teachers are now going to carry out a special mission, so today's testing will be over. Every class is to keep the ISes and return back to the resort. You are to remain in your own rooms. That's all!"

"Huh...?"

"End? Why? The special mission is..."

"I don't understand at all..."

The unexpected situation caused the girls to chatter away.

But Chifuyu roared,

"EVERYONE IS TO HURRY UP AND HEAD BACK! WHOEVER'S OUT WITHOUT PERMISSION WILL BE LOCKED UP! AM I CLEAR!?"

"""YE-YES!"""

Everyone started moving frantically, removing the equipment on their bodies, shutting down the activated ISes and putting them on the vehicles. It seems that they got scared by Chifuyu's roar.

"Personal IS pilots are to gather! Alcott, Dunois, Huang, and...Shinonono!"

"Yes!"

Kachihana Room

"Now, let me explain the situation."

The room full of teachers and personal IS pilots, as we all gathered inside the deepest banquet hall of the resort which is the Kachihana Room. The room with the lights still off has a large screen floating in mid-air.

"There's news that 2 hours ago, the [Silver Gospel], a 3rd generation military use IS that was developed by both America and Israel, went out of control in the test facility in Hawaii and left the surveillance facility."

"…"

"After that, through satellite tracking, we found that the [Gospel] will enter our air space, 2 km from here. That will happen in approximately 50 minutes from now. Thus, according to the Academy's higher-ups jurisdiction, we have to deal with this situation."

"All staff members, please use the Academy's training suits to seal off the air space and sea. The main operation will be done using personal ISes."

"Next, we'll be beginning the planning of the battle. Anyone with doubts, please raise your hand."

"Yes."

Cecilia immediately raised her hand,

"Please explain the specs and data of the target IS."

"I understand. But these are the highest military secrets of those two countries, so it definitely can't be revealed. Once the data's revealed, the parties involved will be court-martialed, and they have to take at least 2 years of probation."

"I understand."

"It's a unique long ranged type that's designed to clear the area...it seems that it can launch a full-scale attack like my IS."

"It's frame has enhanced attack and mobility. That's tough. And the specs are better than my [Shenlong], so the opponent has a slight advantage..."

"This unique armor seems to be tough to handle. My country sent a few [Revive] defensive equipment over, but I do feel that it's tough to defend against them consecutively."

Cecilia, Rin and Charlotte are all seriously exchanging views.

"Can't be helped. This machine's still moving at a supersonic speed. The maximum velocity it has is over 2450km/hr, so there's only one chance."

"Only one chance...that means, we can only launch a suit with a sure-kill attack, right?"

Maya's words reached the room, but there was no such thing as a sure-kill attack against an IS.

"A sure-kill attack, do we have any suggestion on that part?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"U-um Orimura-sensei, I think we have a solution but..."

"What do you mean Yamada-sensei?"

"Remember that incident that happened recently?"

"...!"

As they recall what incident Maya was referring, few seconds later, one word came on their minds of that room.

SkullGreymon.

"SkullGreymon...He destroyed the arena barrier with a single shot, so to an IS, Orimura's [Dark Shot] will disintegrate an IS instantly. But he is uncontrollable and he is currently in training in who knows where. No, it will be too risky, we cannot afford to repeat that incident!"

"Even if you suggested against that Orimura-sensei, how do we one-hit kill the [Silver Gospel]?"

"..."

"Now, let's discuss the battle plan. Amongst you pilots, who has the fastest speed."

"My [Blue Tears]. It just so happened that the [Strike Gunner] England sent over had a high capability sensor equipped with it as well."

"Alcott, how long have you been training under supersonic mode?"

"20 hours."

"U...that's indeed suitable—"

"HOLD ON, HOLD ON! STOP WITH THAT STRATEGY~!"

An energetic voice came and interrupt the planning. Tabane appeared from the ceiling and proceed to do a back flip and lands on the floor perfectly.

"Chi-chan Chi-chan, my brain's now printing an even more brilliant plan!"

"...Get out."

Chifuyu pressed against her head.

"Listen to me, listen to me! This is de~fin~ite~ly the time for [Akatsubaki]'s debut!"

"What?"

"Look at [Akatsubaki]'s specs! It can fly at supersonic speeds even without additional packets."

As if responding to Tabane's words, screens appear around Chifuyu.

"Adjusting [Akatsubaki]'s [Fold-Out Armor]...change change change! See? The speed will be great now!"

"Let me explain. Here it comes~this so-called [Fold-Out Armor] will be the 4th Generation frame's equipment that this genius developed for the 4th generation IS!"

In general, the newly introduced 4th generation IS is a state of the art of an IS. All the countries in the world are stuck with 3rd generation IS while Tabane skipped to 4th. The 4th generation IS frame the [Fold -Out Armor] allows the IS to change modes from attack, defense or mobility, making a certain ability doubled than normal.

"Speaking of which, about that rampant incident, it reminds me of that [White Knight] Incident ten years ago!"

On a different topic, the current incident is somehow similar to an incident that changed the whole world ten years ago.

The [White Knight] incident.

It is said that a hacker fired 2341 missiles from around the world to Japan. Before a single missile even land on Japan, a armor clad female appeared on the sky. And in her hand was a claymore, which she destroyed almost all of the missile, and uses a large charge particle gun to destroy the rest. And after that the [White Knight] simply vanished, never to be seen again.

"So because of that, my beloved IS became famous! I don't care about the fact that women got special treatment, but I could be kidnapped or assassinated if I'm careless. That really felt like some other country. Ufufu ."

Describing it really happily, Tabane seemed to be gloating like a mother whose son just performed on stage for the first time.

"Even so, I don't know~ufufu, who was the [White Knight]? Who was it? What do you think, Chi-chan?"

"I don't know."

"Hm, I guess her bust size is about 88cm—"

*GONG!* A blunt sound could be heard. It was Chifuyu hitting Tabane on the head out of rage with an info terminal.

"That, that's too much, Chi-chan. This Tabane-san's brain got split into half, you know!?"

"Really? That's good. You can take turns thinking with your left brain and your right brain."

"Ohh! I see! You're so smart, Chi-chan~"

"..."

"Chi-chan was really active in that incident."

"Yup, the [White Knight] was really active."

"Speaking of which...Tabane, how long does it take to adjust [Akatsubaki]?"

"O-ORIMURA-SENSEI?"

Cecilia shouted out in shock. It seemed that she felt that she was the only one amongst all of the group who had a hi-powered booster and could take part in the battle. Or it would been..

"If-If it's me and [Blue Tears], we'll definitely succeed!"

"Has that packet been installed?"

"We-Well...not yet..."

Cecilia's voice immediately softened as if her foot got stepped on, stuttering at the same time. In contrast, Tabane revealed an innocent smile as she said,

"Let me add on, it'll take just 7 minutes to adjust [Akatsubaki] !"

"Okay, then this mission will be carried out by Shinonono. You're to track the target to take it down. 30 minutes later, get ready to act. Everyone's to get ready in 30 minutes from now."

*PAN!* Chifuyu clapped her hands, and the teachers got ready to prepare the necessary machinery.

"Those with nothing to do are to help move the equipment or do anything else they can help with. The main front lines are to adjust their ISes. Don't be sloppy."

The preparation for the battle against the [Silver Gospel] has begun.

Ichika

…...

…...

….

"Orimura Ichika.."

…..? That voice, it's that voice again.

"Orimura Ichika.."

That voice is calling me again, and judging from the others, only I'm the one able to hear her voice.

"That is correct Orimura Ichika, you only can hear me."

Although I can hear her, I can't see her let alone where she is right now as we're on our way to the Ancient Dino Region.

As soon as we arrived at the Ancient Dino Region, we juniors ended up taking a brief rest then start our training later on.

"Orimura Ichika, your friends are in trouble..."

Is this a dream? Because I'm not in the Ancient Dino Region. And there I saw a little girl in white in a distant. And right now, I'm on an isolated area, which is serene, just like in my previous dream.

The little girl doesn't move from her current position yet looks into my direction.

"It's flying..."

But I don't see anything in the sky. It was only clear blue sky.

Then when I look for the girl, she disappeared. And I was left alone.

It was then that the place slowly changed into the beach from my previous dream.

The sunset was beautiful in the area. It was like, a nostalgic feeling.

There in the sun, a female knight with a great sword in hand stands into my view of the sun.

She looked at me intensely, as if she was sizing me up.

"Orimura Ichika.." That voice again, it must be belong to her.

I approached the female knight into the sunset.

"Orimura Ichika, do you know who am I?"

She asked me, somehow I know her but I'm not sure.

"I am the [White Knight]."

The [White Knight], she's THE White Knight, the first IS to be operated in history!

"W-Why are you here?!"

"I'm giving you a warning, about your friend's danger."

"Why are you here?"

"I already told you, now it's my turn to ask.."

"...!"

"Do you desire power?"

"..."

"Do you desire power?"

"..."

"Answer me!"

"Yes...and in my view everyone does for their own reason."

"And what is your reason?"

"I..."

I felt that someone is behind me, and when I turn around I saw my ultimate form SkullGreymon.

SkullGreymon growled as if he was ready for a fight.

"What is your reason?"

I turned back at the White Knight, and tried to answer her my reasons.

"Mine's are either protecting my friends, protecting my friends from certain danger. Or destroy everything that is in my path, to destroy and conquer everything that is in my path!"

"..."

"..."

"..."

"..."

"An answer I expected from you Orimura Ichika. Honestly, I don't care what is your reasons and your alignment. It is your reasons, not mine. But you will desire power regardless."

"..."

"Your darkside...it is a part of you Orimura Ichika, do not fear your own darkness." The White Knight said as I looked at my Ultimate form SkullGreymon.

"You must accept your own darkness, one day your darkness will help you in your time of need, remember that."

I should accept my darkness?

"I can tell you do not understand, but you will eventually."

"..." The whole place changed from the seashore where the White Knight and SkullGreymon stands to the last place that I have been, back at the serene isolated area.

There the girl in white appeared again and this time, she was right in front of me looking at me directly.

"Do you want to fly?"

"..."

"You can fly. Fly like a bird, Greymon."

I don't really understand.

"Now go, the [Silver Gospel] awaits."

"..."

"They are waiting for you, Greymon."

The world slowly disappeared, and everything went black.

I somehow back in the Ancient Dino Region, and the training has yet started. Laura noticed me with a worried look.

"Is there something wrong Ichika-sama?"

"..."

"As a 'knight', it is my duty to listen to my 'master's' problems."

"I need to go back to the seashore. Master, I need to go back to the seaside, someone awaits me!"

I called my master, he looks at me and heard my call.

"..."

"..."

"Come back when you're done, I can tell someone is calling you to go back to that seaside. Now go!"

"Yes Master!"

"Ichika-sama, let me come with you!"

"Alright Laura..."

I left the Ancient Dino Region with Laura and went back to the seaside.

As I went back to the seaside using the alternate exit, and when I get there it was already bright. I can tell it is still morning, and I can guess that it is around 11 AM.

And there I saw Houki piloting [Akatsubaki] right next to the beach and I see no one else beside her. The beach was very quiet for some reason, but I sensed something in the distant blue sky.

An angel who have fallen from the heavens. The [Silver Gospel] is an angel who had been corrupted by an unknown force. The [Silver Gospel] awaits for me at the sky, waiting for my arrival.

"Houki!" I called out her name.

"Ichika, I thought you have training?"

"The [Silver Gospel], she's calling me..."

"H-How'd you know about that?!"

"A white knight told me..."

"Ichika-sama, you seemed to be aware about this situation. Houki, what is going on, and how does this [Silver Gospel] related?"

"Well, an unmanned IS named [Silver Gospel] appeared, and I have to stop it."

"I see...let me help you."

"No Ichika, the enemy is in the sky, and you can't fly."

"Shinonono, start the operation!"

I can heard Chifuyu-nee's voice from the IS public channel from [Akatsubaki].

…...!

As Houki started to fly, an IS appeared from the sky and descend into the sea, where it is quite far from here, but I can see it.

The wings on it's head, it must be the [Silver Gospel]. The Silver Gospel is getting closer and it's heading to our direction.

"Enemy detected: 2, Target 1: IS enemy 1, Target 2: unknown. Proceeding to attack enemy IS."

"Shinonono, the Silver Gospel is heading your way! Orimura, Bodewig, why are you here?! And how do you know about this?" I can hear Chifuyu-nee's voice again from the public channel.

The Silver Gospel is now near us but it takes up into the sky at the last second and the wings on it's head expands.

When the wings expanded, I can see cannons from the wings and energy balls formed from the cannons.

The firing rate is ridiculously fast and those energy balls hit a lot in an area and the energy balls exploded in contact.

We took cover and when the smoke clears due to the energy balls hit near us, the Silver Gospel was nowhere to be found.

"Warning!: Enemy IS approaching from behind!"

Akatsubaki let out a warning, and when we turned around the Gospel slammed into Houki and Houki somehow counterattacked the Gospel's attack and both were in the air, turning into an aerial battle.

Houki attacks the Gospel by using one of her katanas but the Gospel's flexible moves and twists with the use of the PIC make it hard for Houki to land a hit.

I can't do anything right now from the ground because if I attack using my Mega Flame, the Gospel will most likely to dodge it and I might hit Houki instead.

The Gospel let out another barrage of energy balls and most of it lands into the sea. And I found something in the sea, a trawler.

A trawler in the battle between the Gospel and Houki will cause danger to the trawler, and might possibly be destroyed.

The Gospel kicks Houki to gain distance to make another fire and this time, it is directly at Houki. Although Houki was able to dodge that, the Gospel seems to be in the upper hand as the Gospel keep firing at Houki.

"Shinonono, retreat. Your shield energy is at critical level!"

From Chifuyu-nee's voice alone, it is already obvious that Houki's in danger. If I want to help her, I must soar into the sky...

…..!

The Gospel removes it's wings by itself and the wings fall off to the sea. And a new pair of angel wings made of energy appear on its head.

"Second shift complete. Proceeding to destroy enemy IS 1." The Gospel spoke as it undergoes second shift.

Wait, a second shift?! If Houki doesn't retreat by now, it will be over for her.

"Do you desire power now?"

It's the White Knight's voice calling me. At this time of need, I needed power to soar up into the sky.

"I do..."

"Then I will grant you this."

Suddenly my body glows in an unearthly light...

It's the same feeling as I dark Digivolved into SkullGreymon before, but this is different somehow.

"Ichika..."

"Ichika-sama..."

Kachihana Room, Normal

Everyone in that room saw it through the screen, Ichika's body glows in an unearthly light and all of them are familiar with this.

"Is he going to...?"

"Oh no, not this again!"

"Wait, it's different somehow."

Chifuyu, Maya, Cecilia, Rin and Charlotte and the rest are anxious to see what happens next.

"Greymon Super Digivolve!"

Ichika body has become larger, his helmet has been reinforced into a metal cybernetic-like helmet, his left arm has turned a mechanical arm, most of his body has been mechanized, and the most prominent change was that Ichika has gained three pair of wings.

"MetalGreymon!"

"Ichika-san is..."

"Different from last time..."

"MetalGreymon?"

A message appeared.

"Read it." Chifuyu commanded.

**MetalGreymon**

**-Ultimate**

**-Vaccine**

**-A completely digivolved Greymon, this android Digimon's mechanized body surpasses all of Greymon's abilities. It boasts power and toughness.**

"This is...Orimura's true 'second shift'."

"Hm, Ichika-san's left arm is glowing in light blue."

"...?!"

"Hey, you're right!"

Ichika

This place, I'm back at the place where I met the White Knight.

Unlike last time, I'm in here as MetalGreymon, and the White Knight appeared right in front of me with a sword in her hand and the girl in white from the other place appeared next to the White Knight. The sword that the White Knight is carrying is different from the last one.

"Orimura Ichika...Do you know about this sword?"

That sword, it is a arched longsword, much like a katana. And that sword is-

-Yukihira, the sword that Chifuyu-nee used during her career as an IS pilot.

"Yes, this sword used to defeat a lot of it's opponents with ease. Because of one certain ability, do you know what ability this sword possess?"

"...Reiraku Byakuya."

"Correct."

"Now Orimura Ichika, are you prepared to face the Silver Gospel?"

"I am..."

"No you're not!"

…..!

"In order to win this battle, you must use this sword. But since you cannot use it, I will entrust this sword in a different way."

The Yukihira floats in the air and disappears in a form of a ball of light. The ball of light reached to my mechanized left arm, and my left arm glows as the ball of light enters into it.

I can feel Yukihira's power surging into my body.

"You are now blessed with the power of the Yukihira. And you have the 'Reiraku Byakuya' effect."

"Reiraku Byakuya effect?"

"Think of it like this, it's like you were using the Yukihira, at the same time you're not." It was the girl in white's turn to speak.

"Basically, you possess the ability of Yukihira itself. And 'Reiraku Byakuya' is your passive skill, you don't use 'Reiraku Byakuya' directly."

"..."

"You will understand later on. Now go forth, MetalGreymon!"

A flash of light blinded me and the next thing I know, I'm back to the seaside.

I saw the Gospel right in the sky, and it's gaining the upper hand as Houki was struggling to keep up.

I approached the sea and made a leap and the next thing was I took into the sky. I approached the Gospel and deployed my left hand.

Time to see what is meant by the 'Reiraku Byakuya' effect.

"Trident Arm!" My left arm shoots out like a ball and chain combined with a cannon. The Gospel actually dodges it but my trident arm managed to damage the Gospel as soon as the Gospel dodges it as my Trident arm also works like Laura's cable wires for binding the enemy like a whip.

"Damage sustained moderate, proceed to change target, Target 2: Unknown confirmed. Initiate counterattack!"

"Houki, get back, your IS is in danger!"

"Shinonono, retreat now. Orimura will take your place!"

"Tch...!" Houki seems reluctant.

"I suppose it can't be helped."

Houki descent back to the seaside, and back to the resort she goes.

Me and the Silver Gospel exchange looks for a few seconds until the Gospel approached me.

"Ichika-sama, now!"

I approached the Gospel and readied my trident arm.

"Prepare yourself [Silver Gospel]!"

**Alright, the battle between MetalGreymon(Orimura Ichika) and Silver Gospel(Natasha Fairs) is underway.**

**The rest might come to aid him at some point in the next chapter.**

**Anyways, the 'ending' may change from the original, and I'm going to decide on the 'ending' for the next chapter.**

**Or I would do an 'ending' request, which is where you readers suggest me the 'ending' in the next chapter. Simply post a review of your desired 'ending' and I might consider it.**

**Have an enjoyable read and I'll update my other fanfics as much as I can.**


	12. Your name is: MetalGreymon-san!

Disclaimers: Infinite Stratos is owned by Izuru Yumizuru.

**This took to long I had to admit. And I've been busy lately due to college and homeworks, that I don't have time to type whatsoever but here it is, the continuation of battle between MetalGreymon and the Silver Gospel.**

Kachihana Room

Everyone saw it, the battle between Ichika (MetalGreymon) and the Silver Gospel is underway. Chifuyu watches intently as Ichika at the last minute replaces Houki to stop the Silver Gospel.

"...Yamada, is Bodewig's IS have been fully repaired?"

"Yes, Orimura-sensei, Do we send the [Schwarzer Regen] right now?"

"Yes, Bodewig will be in danger if she continues to ride Orimura. Alcott, prepare your IS, you're going to give Bodewig her IS and possibly assist both of them."

"Yes, Orimura-sensei."

"Hey, what about us?!" Rin exclaimed towards Chifuyu.

"I don't remember giving you orders Huang Lingyin."

"But Orimura-sensei-"

"Dunois, same goes to you. Don't even try to disobey my orders. The Silver Gospel is in 2nd shift, and it will be more formidable. That applies to the rest of you first years, until I order you otherwise."

"...Yes Orimura-sensei."

The girls get out of the room feeling dejected, except one.

"Heh, lucky you Cecilia.."

"Oh, what's wrong Rin-san?"

"Oh shut up, you know the reason why Orimura-sensei chose you."

"If it's Blue Tears, we will get into the battlefield fast."

"..."

"Now if you excuse me, I must help my friends."

Back at the Kachihana Room where the two teachers still looks intently at the battle.

"Orimura-sensei?"

"Hm?"

"I've been wondering lately, are you worried about Orimura-kun?"

"..."

"Because, from what I'm seeing you have been rather stressed out these days.."

"You could say that.."

"Orimura-kun has undergo a lot of changes lately, but I can say that this is not over yet."

"I have a feeling your hunch is correct.."

Back at the battlefield...

"Trident Arm!"

Ichika deploys his left arm and aims at the Gospel. The Gospel dodged the attack due to it's immense speed.

"Damn!"

His left arm returned back, even though he has more power, his speed is lacking.

"Target 2: Unknown, initiate counterattack!"

The Gospel approached Ichika and expand it's energy wings and preparing for attack. The Gospel flew with great speed and uses it's wings to attack.

Ichika

It's approaching me, at this rate, my Trident Arm will actually hit the target.

I readied my Trident Arm, and concentrate. As I concentrate, my Trident Arm glows in silver, my claws glowed even brighter.

"Warning, Enemy Unknown initiate powerful attack, evasive action commence!"

At the last moment, the Gospel fly upwards, and I aimed up at the last second.

"Trident Arm!"

My left arm hits the Gospel's armor, and it latches into it the Gospel. The Gospel is in my grip, but the Gospel is countering me with it's rapid energy blasts. I better shake it off during this opportunity. I swing my left arm to interfere it's attack. The energy balls are firing, but I didn't got hit much due to I interrupt it's attack.

The Gospel let out electricity as I continue clinging it through my left arm, it seems the Reiraku Byakuya has taken effect.

"Danger: Proceed to remove unidentified object, high-level danger, repeat high level danger."

The Gospel tried to remove my trident rm from it's body, it's time to finish it off while its stationary.

My missile pod on my chest opened up, an unearthly glow comes from it.

"Giga Destroyer!"

Two organic missiles shoot from my missile pod on my chest and it follows the Gospel.

"Warning, proceed to defensive mode!"

The Gospel shoot out it's energy balls and concentrate them into one location, which is the missiles.

The two attacks connect, and a huge explosion appeared from the attacks that connected against each other.

After the explosion clears, the Gospel has lost most of it's armor and I saw a person falling from the Gospel.

"What the?!"

"Ichika-sama, is that it's pilot?"

Then as the pilot falls into the sea, A blue IS grabs the pilot and approached us.

"Ichika-san, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm okay.."

"Laura, your IS!"

It was Cecilia, giving Laura her IS, which is repaired by now.

Laura nodded and jumps off my back and deploys her IS.

"Ichika-sama, the Gospel is still moving."

"Warning, two new IS enemies detected, proceed to destroy both new enemies."

Cecilia prepared her sniper rifle and Laura with her Railgun, and the unconscious pilot is right on my back.

The Gospel moved slower than usual, probably most of it's armor is probably destroyed, therefore losing it's aerodynamic speed. And it's target is either Laura and Cecilia, it seems that it's highest priority is other other ISes, not Digimons.

Which means...

I approached the Gospel and attack from its back while it's targeting either Laura or Cecilia.

I pierced the armor with my Trident arm, thanks to the Reiraku Byakura, the armor is more like paper.

The Gospel struggles to break free from me, and thus uses it's energy blast at me and point blank range. The barrages of energy blasts knocks me off the Gospel, but the Gospel also takes damage from the blast.

After the blast, I soon realized that the the pilot is no longer at my back. I looked around and searching for her which is falling to the sea. I approached her and make her land on my back just in time.

"Laura, Cecilia, I'm going back to the resort to escort her to a safe place, along with the trawler."

"Got it Ichika-san, we'll try to stop the Gospel."

"Ichika-sama, please inform them we need reinforcements!"

"Got it!"

First, I flew to the trawler and literally grab it, because honestly this is rather an emergency situation and asking them to ride on my back takes time.

"Whoa,what's going on?!"

"Whoa, it's that monster!"

"Hey, you want to live or not?!"

"Ah-we are rather grateful but what's going on?"

"A berserk IS is on the loose, that's all I know. Now we're almost to the shore."

I somehow start a conversation between the fishermen on the trawler.

"Uhhh..."

The Gospel's pilot awakens and sees herself riding onto me.

"What is this...?"

She stands up and walks forward near my head.

"Eh? What in the world, where am I?"

"You're in Japan."

"Where is she?"

"She?"

"My Silver Gospel."

"Well uh...she is in berserk right now."

"..."

I reached to the shore, letting go of the trawler near the sandy ground and lands onto the beach where I started. I lowered myself to allow the pilot to climb down to the shore.

"Thank you...um..."

The pilot struggles to continue, then again, this is our first meeting. Should I told her my name or my current form?

"Orimura Ichika, MetalGreymon."

"Ah I see, Orimura MetalGreymon-san, my name's Natasha Fairs, the IS representative of the USA. Although it's not the right time to meet up properly, but nice to meet you."

"Ah..."

"Orimura-kun!" I heard Yamada-sensei calling onto me.

"Orimura!" Followed by Chifuyu-nee.

"Are you alright Orimura-kun?"

"Yeah, I'm alright..."

"Chifuyu-nee!"

"I told you call me Orimura-sensei. Sigh, I guess that metallic helmet of yours really makes you more dense as you are now. What is it?"

"We need reinforcements to stop the Gospel!"

"Well it's about time!" I looked for the source of the voice, and it was Rin.

"Let me enter this battle as well." Charlotte soon follows.

I nodded, but Houki is nowhere in sight.

"Where's Houki?"

"Shinonono-san is somewhere in the resort...No really knows why though...?"

Yamada-sensei looks worried, maybe it's probably because of Houki's unusual behavior during the battle. Houki was excited for some reason back then but...

"Come on, let's go Ichika, they're not going to hold on much longer!" Rin reminded me.

"Ah, let's go, Rin, Charlotte!" They flew from the shore to the target IS, which is the Silver Gospel.

I followed them and prepare to fight the Gospel again, with no obstacle left to hold back my power.

Houki

…..

…...

…...

...Ichika.

..But I've already...IS...Why am I having this feeling?

I can't explain this feeling...excitement...depression...Ichika...

I have Akatsubaki...a 4th generation IS but...I can't help him at all, even if I have an IS.

The urge to use power...absolute power...the urge to use force...it's been in my mindset for a long time.

But after that incident, the SkullGreymon incident, Ichika had turned into what I see myself as...

Ichika...

_Greymon Super Digivolve, MetalGreymon!_

But this morning he turned into something else, MetalGreymon...

In a way...I felt pure energy coming from MetalGreymon..

If I remember, Ichika had two faces...

A gentleman, and a tyrant...

_"Hey—tomboy~. You didn't bring your bokutou today."_

_"...That's a shinai."_

_"Hehe, that weapon sure fits you as a tomboy~"_

_"..."_

_"Even the way you speak is weird~"_

_"Ya—ii ya—ii, tomboy~"_

_"...You guys are really noisy. If you have so much time, just come over and help out. Ahh?"_

_"What's with you, Orimura? You want to stand up for her?"_

_"Heheh? You like this tomboy?"_

_"Ahh—I see! Those two are a couple. I know, you two flirt with each other every morning." _

_"Oh yeah, this guy even tied a ribbon a while back! This tomboy's really funny—FUU!" _

It was around the second grade, where Ichika stand up for me, before he turned into a Digimon. He actually beat up those bullies that surrounded me.

SkullGreymon the tyrant, MetalGreymon the gentleman...

I wanted to see him again...as a human...but...it is rather impossible...

But...even if I can't see him as a human anymore...I will face him, and be by his side...

I wish to be next to him...the dragon...

I stood up and left my room, and what happens next was Yamada-sensei approaching me.

"Shinonono-san, we need reinforcements."

"...!"

"The Gospel is still standing, and we need another personal IS user to suppress it."

"..."

"...Shinonono-san, Orimura-kun is counting on you."

"...!"

"..."

"Where is he?"

"He already left to the Gospel."

"..."

"..."

"...I will fight. I will fight by his side."

Yamada-sensei smiled as she direct me towards the shore.

As I reached to the shore, I saw an unknown blonde person who is standing beside Chifuyu-san.

"Um..."

"Hm, who is this Brunhilde?"

"This is one of the personal IS user, and my student Shinonono Houki. Shinonono, you know the orders."

"Yes...Let's go, Akatsubaki!"

As I deployed Akatsubaki, the foreigner was shocked as she saw my IS.

"What is this, a brand new IS?"

"You might say that..."

I flew at great speeds and raced to the battlefield.

Ichika

Somehow the Gospel is moving at a fast pace, even most of it's armor is no longer aerodynamic. Even if my friends were trying my best to stop the Gospel, she does not let it stop her.

Laura and her railgun.

Cecilia and her sniper rifle.

Rin and her impact cannons.

Charlotte and her barrages.

I just need someone to stop the Gospel up-close and pin her down, and that's Houki and Akatsubaki.

"Oooohhh!"

I just need one second for the Gospel to stand still, and initialize the Reiraku Byakuya through my Trident Arm.

"Sorry to make you wait Ichika."

"Houki!"

With great speed, Houki and her IS Akatsubaki came at my time of need.

Houki deploys her two katanas and slashed away through the Gospel to stop it's movement. But...

The Gospel counterattacks Houki to gain their distance, and the Gospel continues to move.

"Laura!"

"Got it!" She shot her railgun at the Gospel to stop her from afar.

I swing my Trident Arm at the Gospel but she dodged yet again.

"Cecila!"

"I'm right here!" She deployed her BIT's and shot the gospel also with her sniper rifle.

"Rin!"

"I'm on it!" She said as she fired her impact cannons to stop the Gospel.

"Charlotte!"

"On it!" With her Rapid Switch, Charlotte gave the Gospel a barrage of bullets.

"Ichika, now!" As I have been waiting for this moment.

"Reiraku Byakuya Kouken!"

My Trident Arm glows in a bright aura, and power is concentrated on my claws, forming a beam claw on my Trident Arm.

"Ichika, that ability-!"

"But that's Intructor's one-off ability!"

"How is it possible?!"

"Ichika-san!"

"Ichika!"

"Ooooohhh!"

"Metal Slash, Reiraku Byakuya!"

My attack penetrated her armor once again and this time in front of her.

"R-r-retreating..."

It seems it has become weakened and unable to move any faster. But she still have a few energy shield left.

I opened my missile pod and readied for the finishing move.

"Giga Destroyer!"

The two missiles hit the Gospel directly, and a huge explosion occur. The Gospel is finally eliminated.

In that moment, I lost my energy and reverted back to Koromon.

"""Ichika!"""

"Ichika-sama!"

"Ichika-san!"

I fell down, not knowing when will I hit the sea. But just then, I felt someone grabbing me and escort me back to shore. I can't tell who was it, but I think saw red as I became tired.

"It's over..."

"Yeah, it's finally over..."

…...

…..

….

Normal

"Mission completed, though it is not exactly as planned to say the least but the mission is completed anyways. Although, destroying the Gospel was not really necessary, but you deserve a break. Then rest up for a while before continuing with the treatment. Remember to take off your clothes when we do a full body check on you-ah! I'll be taking that thank you."

Chifuyu took Ichika(Koromon) from Houki's grip.

"Then, everyone, please rehydrate yourself. It'll be a big problem if you don't rehydrate yourself in the summer."

"Yes ma'am." The echoes are obvious to be heard.

"Good, we'll then Yamada-sensei, do your job."

"Um...I'll start the treatment on everyone."

The battle between the 5 IS girls and MetalGreymon lasted until evening. It's obvious that the girls needed treatment along with Ichika, who is in care from his sister.

At that night...

"O, O, what's the result? Tell us~"

"...Nope, that's classified."

Charlotte never reveal the result as her sense of responsibility is strong.

"How's Orimura-kun, I haven't seen him since the battle ended." Kanzashi asked the personal IS pilots.

"He's with Orimura-sensei. It will be a bad idea to approach him right now."

"..."

"Speaking of Orimu, he turned into something different today. Kanzashi what was that name?"

"Um...it's MetalGreymon."

"Ohh~ Orimu has become MetalGreymon today. Class 1-1 has now a powerhouse."

"Ehh, that new monster was Orimura-kun?!"

And lot's of girls on the dining hall talked about Ichika's new ultimate form.

"Sigh, how troublesome- Eh, where's Houki-san and Laura-san?" Cecilia noticed the two missing girls.

"Now that you mentioned it..." Rin replied.

"You don't suppose..." Charlotte continued.

In the shore headlands

"Ah, I never would expected for Ii-kun to steal Houki-chan's spotlight."

The female stared at the numerous values shown on the screens in the air as she gave an innocent smile.

Like a kid, like an angel.

The bright moonlight shines on that face that's no different from usual.

The person who often has a bored look, the person called Shinonono Tabane.

"Nn-...mn, nn."

As she continued to hum, she summoned another screen. It's Ichika as he's fighting as MetalGreymon.

Tabane's sitting on the fence at the headlands, shaking her feet and looking at that image.

In front of her, there's only the wide sea that's 30 meters in depth. But even though she may fall and hurt herself, her expression didn't change.

"Ha~ I had to admit it though, Ii-kun is really amazing. To think to have possessed that ability in the first place. It's just like-"

"-Like the [White Knight] right, Core number 001 was the first frame in action, and the one you spent the most effort on, right?"

Chifuyu walked silently through the forest and came out. Covered in the black suit, her figure looked like she was about to take away the darkness in the night, as it's full of silence and majestic feel. She no longer had Ichika with her as he digivolved into Agumon and went somewhere on the shore.

"Yaa, Chi-chan."

"Oh."

Both of them aren't looking at each other as they turn their backs on each other. Tabane continued to shake her feet like that, while Chifuyu leaned on the tree.

Even without looking, they can understand the expressions on each other's faces.

It's the trust between them.

"Oh yeah, Chi-chan, let me test you. Where did the [White Knight] go?"

"You'll get your answer from him..."

"Hmm...I honestly don't know where Core number 001 was, until Ii-kun turned into MetalGreymon."

The frame that people called the [White Knight] was dissimilated, leaving the core behind. It had a huge contribution to the production of the first generation IS. However, its core disappeared after a certain research lab was raided and the core was stolen.

"And then...hoho. For example, someone exchanged messages through the Core Network, Chichan's first [White Knight] and her second frame [Kurezakura]. If that's the case, even if they develop the same [One-off Ability], there's nothing weird about it, right?"

"…"

Chifuyu didn't answer.

But Tabane didn't care about her answer and continued.

"...Oh yeah, let me give an example."

"Huh, Chi-chan? That's rare of you."

"A certain genius wanted to let her beloved imouto's IS grace the stage, so she prepared a personal IS and an IS going rampant."

Tabane didn't answer, and Chifuyu continued on.

"As the incident happened, the new model hi-capability machine could take part in battle. This genius' imouto could gracefully enter the stage as a personal IS pilot. However, that was not part of her plan when a certain flying half-machine dinosaur intervened and destroyed the rampant IS."

"Hey, Chi-chan, is the world you're living in interesting?"

"It will be...in the coming time."

"I see..."

The strong wing that blew up the headland let out a roar.

"-"

After saying a few words in that wind, Tabane disappeared.

Suddenly. She vanished.

"..."

Chifuyu sighed and leaned the back of her head on the tree branch.

The voice in her mouth disappeared together with the sea breeze.

Ichika

[Koromon digivolve Agumon!]

Standing on the coast, I walk to a nearby rock to sit down.

After dinner, I had walked out of the resort to rest a little, and arrived at the seaside in the night.

As it's a full moon today, even at midnight, the moon's still extremely bright. I listen to the heavy sounds of the waves as I stare blankly at the bright sky with the moon in it.

(Speaking of which, I dreamt of something at evening, but...what kind of dream was it?)

I did remember it clearly when I woke up, but now, the dream feels fuzzy to me.

Though dreams are always like that, I feel that there's something important in the dream, something I just can't forget.

"Ichika-sama."

With my name being called, I turned around.

Under the bright moonlight, it was Laura, and she still wearing the IS uniform from two days ago.

"What are you doing here?"

"I came here to see the night from the shore. I see you're here to relax Ichika-sama."

"You might say that."

She sits right next to me.

"..."

"..."

"...The bright moonlight is beautiful tonight Ichika-sama."

"...Yeah."

"Today was a great battle, you have reached into your ultimate level, and we defeated the rampant IS."

I nodded back at Laura.

"So what are we going to do?"

"Well, since Master wants us to come back as soon as we finished our task."

"How about we leave tomorrow morning?"

"..."

"We are just as tired as the rest as the rest of them."

"You're right..tomorrow morning then."

Just then I heard a bird's cry. It was Saberdramon flying towards us.

"Hey you two, master sent me to see you guys. What happened?"

"Um...apparently the opponent were putting more of a fight than I thought and we were put to rest for a while."

"Master sent you?" Laura asked.

"Yes, and congratulations for achieving the ultimate level Ichika. Master was very pleased by your performance, and your leadership ability. Although it's not really that good, but it''s still a satisfactory."

"Ah thanks, can you sent Master a message that we'll be there tomorrow morning."

"Of course. It appears there are nothing left for me to do here, I might as well go back there. See you guys tomorrow morning, and Master would expect you to be Greymon."

And just like that Saberdramon left the shore and returned back to the Ancient Dino Region.

"..."

"..."

"..."

(Agumon digivolve Greymon!)

I digivolved into Greymon and Laura rides onto me once again to my neck.

"Ichika-sama, let us enjoy the rest of the night."

"Hm, you don't have to tell me that Laura."

And somehow I saw Laura's face is getting red.

"I-Ichika?" I've heard another voice, Laura and I turned around and it revealed to be Houki in a swimsuit.

"Houki...? Speaking of which, I didn't see you at the beach yesterday—"

"Do-Don't stare at me like that...I-I can't stay calm like this..."

"Sorry."

I turn my body around, but I can tell Laura is still looking at Houki.

"L-Laura, turn around."

"A bold choice for the swimsuit Houki, I would actually imagine the exact opposite. Isn't that right Ichika-sama?"

"Um..yeah."

"Th-Thi-This, well...I, I just thought of buying...but-but it really feels embarrassing to wear it...so..."

Maybe that's the reason why I didn't see Houki on the first day.

"Oh and Houki..."

"Y-yes?"

"What are you doing here anyways?"

"Uh...I'm just taking a walk. That is all."

"Is that so..."

"Ichika-sama, I would suggest on walking around the shore for a while before we going to sleep for tomorrow morning."

"Hm, I still have some energy left for a little workout. I don't see why not."

"W-wait!" Houki somehow stopped us.

"I-I want to ride on you tonight."

I lowered myself for Houki to ride onto my back. After Houki was on my back, I rose up and start walking around the shore.

"Houki, are you even allowed to go outside?" laura asked her.

"Um..."

"Don't blame either of us if you're getting scolded."

"..."

The beautiful moonlight made this night stroll a lot more relaxing. Laura moved up above my head and into my front horn, giving Houki some space.

After a few minutes, Houki started to shiver.

"Houki."

"I'm fine."

"Ichika-sama, to the resort."

"No need to ask me that." I went back to the resort in concern for Houki.

As I arrive to the resort, Houki slide down from me and she has that reluctant face on.

"Ichika..I..."

"Hm...?"

"...It's nothing, good night." Somehow Houki was trying to say something to me but, she ended up not telling me. But there's something about today that I'm missing on, but what was it?

'Tch, why can't I..' Somehow Houki seemed saddened.

And I'm somehow felt tired. I lay down at the shore and closed my eyes slowly.

"Good night Laura..."

"Good night Ichika-sama..."

As I drift myself to slumber, I felt some presence near me and they're approaching but I pay no attention as I fell asleep.

Next Morning

"Oi Orimura, wake up!" That voice...Chifuyu-nee.

I slowly woke up and Chifuyu-nee was right in front of me.

"Honestly, you're like a magnet."

"What are you talking about?" I didn't understand what Chifuyu-nee was talking about until I saw them sleeping next to me.

Aside from Laura, Houki which surprisingly still in her swimsuit, Cecilia, Kanzashi, Rin and Charlotte was sleeping with me, or rather on me.

"Mn~ good morning Ichika-sama-!"

"So there were someone sleeping with us."

I slowly get up, and the other girls slowly wakes up as well.

"Ichika...just a few more minutes..."

"Ichika-san...just a bit longer.."

"Ichika...one more time..."

"Ichika...that was fun...

"Ichika..."

"OI YOU FIVE WAKE UP, YOU BETTER GIVE A GOOD EXPLANATION TO SKIP CURFEW AND SLEEP OUTSIDE HERE!" Chifuyu-nee's voice wakes them immediately.

"Well..I.."

"It's just.."

"We...um..."

"Wait..how about Laura..?"

"I told you five already, Bodewig was not part of this field trip along with Orimura, understand that?"

"Yes ma'am"

"Orimura-san!" Then a familiar voice from yesterday can be heard. It was the Gospel's pilot, Natasha Fairs.

"Are you the person from yesterday, the one who by the name MetalGreymon?"

"Yes I am."

"What name do you go by?"

"Greymon."

"Oh, I came here to say thank you."

"Uh..you're welcome. I have to go resume my training somewhere else."

"And where would that place be Greymon-san?"

"It's somewhere hidden in the mountains." It was Laura who answered her.

"I see..."

"..."

"..."

"Then this will be my farewell, bye bye~"

"Oh, oh..."

Facing this Miss Natasha who waved at me and left, I could only watch her leave as I waved my hand blankly.

...Huh...

I almost forgot.

"Ah, it's time for us to leave."

"Ah Orimura, could you tell him that you and your friends are not available until evening from tomorrow onwards?"

"Ah got it."

"Good, see you tomorrow then Orimura along with your other friends."

Chifuyu-nee left the shore and start packing the IS equipment. Where as I went back to the Ancient Dino Region, and I can't help but seeing that my friends are rather disappointed for some reason.

Normal

"So what are you going to do now?"

Chifuyu was walking towards Natasha who showed her carefree face towards Ichika turned into something vicious.

"I'm going to find out the person who took her decision making ability! I will find this person, no matter who she is, the one who making it as the enemy of all IS. I will find her and make her pay!"

"...That kid loves flying more than anyone else, yet her wings got taken away...I won't forgive that person no matter who that person is."

"Don't do something foolish now. There's still the investigations, right? Anyway, watch patiently for now."

"Is this your advice to me? Brunhilde?"

Brunhilde—that's the title given to the winner of the IS [Mondo Grosso].

Chifuyu was the first winner, but to be honest, she didn't like others calling her that.

"Just a suggestion."

"I see. I'll just wait and see...for the time being."

The two who only met each other for the first time didn't talk any more as both of them went on their way.

The next time—these words are etched on their backs.

**Well now, it's the 'end' of season 1, anime wise that is. I don't think I did well with this chapter I'm afraid.**

**Oh well, next up, the OVA episode, and it will be a tough one...**

**Now I'm trying to focus on the Knight of Solitude and then continue the prolouge of The Orimura Detective Agency.**

**I swear I'm getting busier nowadays. 'A' levels, assignments, projects and so forth are stopping me and occasional writer's block.**

**But I hope I have the time eventually...**

**Until then...See ya.**


End file.
